MAX MCGEE'S PROFILE

author=GreatRedSpirit
Personally when it comes to defeat it depends on how I'm failing. I also never beat Dark Souls 1 due to a mix of losing my save from the GFWL to Steam switch and having to do the dumpster heap of dragon butts and bloom known as Lost Izalith again and if the devs ain't gonna give a shit about their game I won't either. I never beat God Hand on hard because holy shit enemies in that game are rude on Level Die and I'd just get wrecked by the mandatory Trident Demon and Fembots in Electric Death Cage Match (then ps2s gotta ps2 and rip that). I never beat Metal Gear Rising on its hardest mode because it was just a giant fuck off slog and I ain't got time to waste on that.

Generally I don't care if I don't finish a game for whatever reason. It'll always nick my pride but I play games to have a neat experience. There's a million and one games out there that might catch my eye and there's not enough time to check 'em out. If I'm having a miserable time with no real result I'll just find something else to do with my time.


For actual DS3 tips:
- 27 vit (vigor? Whatever gives HP) and ember up is enough life to kill him. 27 is a good breakpoint since after that you get shitty returns and there's no other time to blow embers than on the final boss!

- Summon a buddy! I dunno if anybody's left at this point or what NPCs are available. I called up Yuria to finish the Dark Sign plotline and she did a great job distracting the boss while I just piled on fireballs.

- Use one of those consumable buffs for your weapon like the Carthas Rouge. I don't remember what Soul of Cinder is weak to but getting a bleed proc or similar buff can help a ton.

- Use the Power of the Raw ASS! (Astora Straight Sword) I dunno if it was nerfed like the Dark Blade but because Dark Souls 3 was balanced by a Markov Chain Generator it's stupidly effective, cheap to equip, and a straight sword in DS3 so it's already the best weapon class. Plus...

- Don't forget you can respec with a tongue. Poor stat allocation, stat taxes, or "I hope this weapon is as good as the raw ASS! (it isn't)" investments can be fixed with this. More life is usually a safe bet.

- Make sure you're at +9/+4, or even +10/+5 for your weapon. There's only so many slabs per NG so check up on where they are. There should be one or two that's easy to get. Look into the shield too, more stability is nice since iirc it's a % of how much stamina loss you resist so a higher +1 is worth more than a lower +1 (assuming it even gives an additional block).

- Rolling into enemy attacks is usually more effective than rolling away from. Video game physics! There's also a ring that gives more iframes when rolling but I don't remember the name.


Also FF9 is the culmination of issues with the ATB. Look up the ATB Wait Trick which should help a ton when fighting Necron. iirc there's some AI script bits you can take advantage of too, I think Necron always uses Blue Pulsar which is just HP=1 after Grand Cross so it isn't as critical to get your party back up right after it (plus you can take advantage of Steiner's Charge! attack which gives everybody in critical HP a free attack and only provokes one counter but I don't remember if Necron is counter-heavy or not.)