Super Mario RPG Switch Remake - Low Level Part 10: King Calamari & Tentacles
15Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c1MMIPTlZnOvI4eiDzyABR_
Surprised this is already the 10th boss battle in the video series. The number of resets I had to undergo was very much excessive, and this is the first boss where the Lucky Jewel started giving me (A LOT OF) offers to double the coins instead of experience at the end of the battle. I guess it really is going to be a 1/6 opportunity to render exp zero for each mandatory enemy encounter and not the 1/2 my experience indicated it would be.
Peach (no longer 'Princess Toadstool') joins the party as its highest-levelled member, still paling in comparison to Bowser's raw stats. She gets the invaluable ability to recover the party's health and status for a mere 4 FP, healing 100 HP, which is actually more than what anyone in the party has.
Before we reach the actual boss, we have to face two waves of tentacles. Their attacks aren't hard to block, and them inflicting Fear, ignoring resistance, is a slight nuisance. They are weak to Fear themselves, which Bowser can exploit with Terrify. Bowser is the heaviest hitter in the party by far; though Mario can be observed dealing competitive damage at times, it is all because of his Masher weapon dealing largely randomised damage (between 20 and 80 base power). On average, it should give us higher damage than the next weapon in strength.
I keep my triple move until King Calamari, though he is affected by its damage the least when the move lands - it does generally take out at least one if its two tentacles. The main boss is a lot more threatening than his lackeys, and the Party Bracer actually prevents Mario from dying in one hit, and Peach succumbing to his strongest attack. AoE damage makes Group Hug very convenient to keep the party healthy both in HP and status, and having fear protection actually helps at this stage of the battle.
The main boss battle is kind of long, but the fight itself is quite manageable, with or without bracer use. If you save your bracer, which I did every time I restarted to get 0 exp after the end of the fight, you will have to spend some Pick Me Ups to get Mario up once or twice (you could also just keep him dead!), but the rates of success aren't diminished, unlike the previous gruesome battle (again, very manageable if you do use a bracer). It's the lottery at the end that causes you to repeat the fight over and over.