Secret of Evermore - Self-Imposed Challenge Run Part 3: The Early Bird Boss gets my annoyance
1Rules so far:
-No switching to the Dog in an active combat area unless absolutely necessary
-Dog must not be dropped to 0 HPs
-Pixie Dust and Wings are not allowed
-Alchemy restrictions to be determined
Thraxx fight at 29:55. Grab a drink, because I have much to say about this mess.
In a bit of convenience, I do have the Dog get kills so that he gains Attack EXP, since I prove able to get enough EXP for the Bone Crusher to get it to Level 3 in time. This is useful for foreshadowing the bite of good gameplay I would really want to display a bit further into the game. Let's just say I'm pleasantly surprised when Private Hazard (yes, the Dog) gets going against a Tar Skull.
What do I mean "in time" for leveling up the Bone Crusher? Well, what other reason than the Early Bird Boss known as Thraxx. This guy has too much HP for what he can do, considering he calls in Maggots infinitely. While the Maggots can drop items sometimes and will provide EXP that can lead to level ups for free healing, this gets outweighed by Thraxx himself using unavoidable attacks hitting both characters, the more obnoxious of which is Acid Rain, which deals its Level 2 damage and comes out at painful intervals. If you get cute against the Maggot spam suffocation with side-attacking the rib cage, which you do need to attack to open it up and expose Thraxx's Heart, Thraxx has 2 Claws to get in the way and try to swat at you at given intervals--while you can take these out for nice EXP and some freedom of movement, landing the needed hits is demanding of active placement in addition to timing with the attack intervals.
Oh, and when you hit the heart, Thraxx lets off an unavoidable scream attack that instantly kicks you out of the ribcage. This is particularly obnoxious because the obvious solution of burst damage, the big reason I would want the Bone Crusher at L3, can even get disrupted by the Dog if you don't command him to Sniff while waiting to get the chargeup.
It's telling when a non-TAS low level run isn't going to have the characters at L1 despite the clear possibility, because you're never going to deal 600 damage to the heart before Thraxx uses Acid Rain, which at that point is going to kill you from full health, guaranteed. What a low level run exploits is some glitch with Thraxx's counterattack, involving of course Dog switching. I am not clear on the specifics, but it's how Thraxx can be killed anywhere near quick enough.
And just to make things worse, the nearest save point before fighting Thraxx is a good distance away, AND it doesn't even provide any sort of rest opportunity.
Compare to Spiky Tiger in Secret of Mana, who, while asinine in his own right as whoisthisgit recently covered, I think there are points like how Spiky Tiger can actively be hit without excessive effort and he doesn't issue over-the-top punishment for not using burst damage. When I need consistent usage of a double hit attack with EACH hit dealing twice as much damage as my next most powerful attack, there's a problem.
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