Mega Man ZX Advent - Expert Mode No Damage Run [Part 4]
45This is the final part of my expert mode no damage run of Mega Man ZX Advent. Only two stages remain, the Undersea Volcano and Ouroboros, and both are a fair bit more difficult than everything else preceding them. Here are my notes.
-Given my limited allotment of words, I’ll choose to harp on one specific section of the Undersea Volcano. Easily the hardest regular stage, chiefly on account of haphazard meteor bombardments, finding a consistent path through this assault required a nearly invisible yet insultingly simple solution. The climb within the second room preceding the opening to Albert’s bunker is frankly asinine, and it left me dour for a good long while. Under normal circumstances you’re completely at the mercy of chance here as the RNG determining the meteor positions ostensibly shifts on a frame-by-frame basis. The big-brain solution to this is holding right on the dpad and power walking through the checkpoint room leading into the slope climb; as RNG resets upon area transitions, the above “tactic” allows you to arrive at the same time, every time, and so, the initial meteors present at the slope climb manifest consistently. This reduces the failure rate here dramatically, and as such, is almost entirely necessary to prevent undue frustration. Far more detailed ramblings on this stage will be present on my community tab; take a gander if you’re so inclined.
-I can’t decide if the battle against Prometheus and Pandora is an improvement to their previous waltz in ZX. On one hand, they fight in tandem to a greater degree, possessing three combo attacks as opposed to just one; conversely, their solo attacks are just as if not duller than previously. With proper strategy and a sliver of luck, it’s possible to end this dance before anything remotely interesting happens. This time, they did a fine job of delivering me from boredom. Prometheus’ scythe charge is augmented by Pandora’s flight; what was once a freebie is made into an inordinately tricky affair when relegated to the ZX-Saber. I triple slash in retaliation, not just for the sake of damage on Pandora, but also to definitively halt Prometheus; he’s far quicker on the draw than in ZX, you’ll notice that I also initiate a spin slash while jumping over him to buy a slight bit of extra time in case of any timing deficiencies during the triple slash. Their “EX Skill” from ZX returns in a sublimated form; Pandora now directly assaults players with an unpredictable assortment of ice shards and bolts, and she can switch between them without warning. Prometheus follows with his customary dive.
-Fittingly, Ouroboros is a beast of a gauntlet, in the same vain as its progenitor. Thankfully, the difficulty is a good deal more balanced; bosses are a sight less stochastic than in Z4, while the platforming, especially in the latter half, is decidedly more deadly. Model ZX is my weapon of choice for 6 of the 8 refights; Chronoforce and Queenbee receive dispensation from being sliced into ribbons. As far as the others go, contact damage is the ubiquitous threat when engaging them in melee combat. Exercise caution with Rospark and the Shisaroids; their hitboxes are wonky on a good day. Contain your avarice against Buckfire as well, he has a nasty habit of dashing across the entire length of the arena uninterrupted.
-For platforming, the opening hall is well handled by Ugoyle’s kicks; no wall climbing is necessary here, so you’re free to punt everything out of your way. The hall preceding Albert is a different matter entirely; taking inspiration from Yggdrasil, it comprises a deluge of spikes; the floors, ceilings and even regenerating blocks offer chances for an untimely prickly demise. Model H is a shining beacon here, the wall-piercing property of its tornadoes parts the sea of blocks while simultaneously stunning or outright destroying maliciously placed enemies. Speeding through here is not a trifling matter; scrupulous planning, alongside calm, deliberate movement is key.
-I prefer Model P over F for dismantling Dragon Albert, principally because tossing kunai doesn’t lock your movement. Standing slightly in front of the second curved pillar guarantees dodging the debris from his ground-crawling electricity while dashing to the left corner solves the black hole attack.
-Albert’s final form is less of a forthright challenge and more of a puzzle. As expected, Model A is the answer to all the questions, so I stick with it for the duration, barring a bit of cheeky fun at the end. Ground Breaker is his superlative threat; stick to the middle of the screen and refrain from dashing around, as soon as he raises his hand to the heavens, calmly walk in front of the descending fist and jump to avoid the stun; the flame pillars will take care of themselves.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Undersea Volcano | Prometheus & Pandora
03:42 - Ouroboros | Master Albert
Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed this run! Any questions and comments are welcome as always.
Other Videos By DZ3
Other Statistics
Mega Man ZX Advent Statistics For DZ3
There are 9,016 views in 18 videos for Mega Man ZX Advent. The game makes up 2 hours of published video on his channel, roughly 19.80% of Mega Man ZX Advent content that DZ3 has uploaded to YouTube.