Topic: Hades.

@DertieBertie I have no idea. As you can see that last one was under 30 and I don’t think I’ve done anything differently, really.
I’m definitely not a defensive player. I guess on one of them I was hanging around Eurydice listening to her song for a bit lol.

Now done once with every weapon and the times are going down. This was an awesome load out, killed the boss without losing a life.

It’s in the bloooooood 🎶

This game is determined to screw me over. Got to the end boss again with the Skelly tooth death defiance and stubborn defiance. Used my stubborn defiance about half way in and then got flipping killed again through my own stupidity and got sent back to the start. Was totally cheated out of my Skelly DD.

Think I’m done with this game for now. That’s 37 attempts and not one of them successful. I’ve realised tonight I stopped having fun at some point so probably for the best that we go our separate ways 😂.

@render - Stick with it man. I was feeling like that, it took me 50 attempts to get my first clear run. Find the boons that work best for you and manipulate their likelihood with keepsakes. Once I found my build I'm smashing the game to bits with extreme measures activated and I'm currently on a 14 clear streak. It'll happen for you and you won't look back!

@Shigurui Cheers, I needed some motivation to carry on. I was feeling quite aggrieved last night having failed on two attempts with what I felt was a great build. I get to this point for it to work great in a general encounter but it falls short in a boss battle. I’ll then build for a boss battle only to then get done over in the section leading up to the end. It’s frustrating the hell out of me as I know I should be able to get it done!

Well done on your clears though, that’s impressive. Are you shooting for the platinum?

I’m currently on a nice streak as well. Rolled the credits last night but obviously that’s still far from done
It’s maybe a little more addicting than I’d want it to be

@render What I found to be working for me is when choosing the next chamber, weapon upgrades (the hammer) take top priority, then new boons, boon upgrades (the pomegranate) and health upgrades depending on what you already have. If you have a choice between a boon/health upgrade and Charon’s shop, get the latter if you have a lot of coins.
My 100% favorite keepsake is from Thanos.
Spend your diamonds on the thing that gives you a random boon upgrade whenever you collect nectar.
And obviously dodge a lot

@render - I know that feeling of falling short. Finding an all round build took me a while. I've settled on crit boons and the fast cast trippy shot with either the blade dash or freeze dash and it's been covering all bases. I'm playing on Xbox just now but I've bought it for PS4 too and once I get the 1000GS there I'll be starting on PS and going for the platinum. Good luck mate, you'll get there!

@Voltan @Shigurui Thanks for the tips guys, I’ll give them a go. I’m going to try and stick with one weapon for a while and try the keepsake manipulation you suggested Shigurui, coupled with the room selection strategy you suggested Voltan. Hopefully between the two I can get this done.

I’ve got one more shot tonight and then I’m away for a few days so perhaps a break will be good anyway 👍

Nice work on both your victories. I do like the story and the way it’s revealing itself slowly. Can’t wait to see those credits 😁

@render The song playing during the credits is alone worth it

@render Been there many times myself with the Souls games and more recently Returnal. It can be really deflating at times. But most of the time I'm glad I carried on. Sometimes it can be as simple as taken a wee break (not literally a toilet break lol) from the game and taken on board some of the useful tips by the awesome community.

I beat Hades. Or did I? I don't know. It felt like I did. And I lost interest afterward and can't be bothered to play it any more. So I'm just gonna say I did.

I really liked it mostly. I was surprised there were no shortcuts and you had to just keep doing the same thing over and over again. I also think it took a bit too long to grind out some of the currencies. But I also appreciate that they didn't have a microtransaction store because you can see how easy to implement that would have been.

What was really weird was the first time I beat it I had what I thought was a rubbish loadout. I hadn't been lucky with boons etc. and I lost some of my lives early with silly mistakes but then I smashed the last boss. I'd had previous amazing loadouts where I was sure this was the time I was going to do it and I didn't.

Anyway it was good.

So I finally caved in and bought this game. Man, talk about a good first impression! This game is phenomenal. I'm really struggling with Megaera haha.

@JohnnyShoulder I totally shared that feeling with you on Returnal, I was definitely in a similar situation. Oddly I felt like I was making more progress with that due to having the short cuts and not having to redo the boss fights each time. There were still a few times when I’d stalled out but I was so into the gameplay that it wasn’t so bad. Even Demon’s Souls has been manageable for similar reasons.

Hades was great to start with but, I don’t mind saying, has become very frustrating very quickly. It’s actually not the last boss fight but the one before it that’s got real old real quickly. It just takes so long to get through that compared to the others that it’s sapping the fun out of it a little for me.

I could engage God Mode but I’m too stubborn for that and want to at least get a clear using whatever skill I’ve got. I’m convinced that I can do it which makes it doubly annoying. You are right about taking a break though (wee or no wee 😆), and also about listening to the great community.

I employed your tips @Voltan @Shigurui and managed to get to the last boss twice and fairly consistently beat it down to a quarter each time before my skill ran out. I definitely ended up with a more powerful build than I’ve had before and was able to blast through most of the rooms without too much trouble, even those leading up to the boss.

Cheers everyone for helping me pick myself up and dust myself off before attempting to escape once again. It’s very much appreciated 👏

@Jackpaza0508 Good purchase. I know you wouldn’t know from my complaining but that’s more to do with my abilities than the game. Meg isn’t too bad as long as you take your time, and don’t get greedy. Also a good option if you have it is to use the shield as you can block her attacks with that (I think that tip was from @Voltan) and then bull rush into her. Then you can use the ranged attack to get the odd hit in.

I love the game (every SG game is great), but I am in the mid-thirties in attempts and still can't beat the final boss. I have gotten there six times in a row, and the last few times I have been one or two hits away from victory. But I am really having trouble finishing it.

I will get this done, and push to the true ending. Maybe tonight will be my first clear-I am really close! But my lack of skill aggravates me. At this point I am tearing through all the levels, getting to the final with good health and more than one DD in reserve, and I am still falling short. Grrrrr.

I have really enjoyed reading about all of your experiences with this great game!

@render - Good to hear you're making some progress with a build. I understand not wanting to use God Mode so as a solid alternative look for the Positive Outlook boon from Dionysus to reduce damage once you hit 40% health, it's saved my backside plenty of times.

For that boss fight that's dragging on, pairing Dionysus' Trippy Shot with Artemis' Aid call can absolutely shred through that encounter. Stick at it man and keep us posted.

AAARRRRHHH!! I thought I’d done it but I wasn’t expecting the second phase. I had used both DD and was down to 14 health. I managed to hang on for about the first quarter down his health bar and the went and smashed an urn thing. I mean WTF, who designed this game!! .

Tried again straight after but got done over in the rooms just before carrying the disappointment. Ah well at least I get a few days off now and might come back to this reinvigorated.

@Shigurui Great shout on those few boons, I’ll set that up next time round and hopefully make it to the end. On a plus point the other boss battles are pretty easy by now I’ve done them often enough!

@Westernwolf4 Glad to hear you are enjoying the game. That’s what’s frustrating me, just lack of skill. I’m pretty much fully upgraded on everything and it’s still not happening. I’m sure though by the time I get around to playing again you’ll be racking up those clears 😉

@render I thought that might catch you off guard after your previous comments but I didn’t want to say anything that might’ve discouraged you

On my last run last night, I had a pretty bad (by my current standards anyway) build and died just a few hits away from escaping. Would’ve made it if I hadn’t died once already literally just before landing the final hit on the Elysium heroes 🤷‍♂️

@render Thanks so much for the words of encouragement. Last night I finally did it-cleared the final boss twice in a row before it was time for bed. I was so happy after getting so close a few other times!

I encourage you to keep going whenever you feel like playing again. I really like what happens after you defeat the boss-it is really worth continuing. And, if an old gamer with limited skill and reflexes like me can do it, it means you will be wrecking the game in no time. Keep at it, best of luck and happy gaming!

Not that you need my advice, but something that helped me: There is a contractor upgrade you can get that increases your health gage by 5 every time you pick up darkness-not just heals you, but actually increases your health pool for that run. It means I have been getting to the final with over 300 health, especially when I pair it with the Dionysis Boon that fully heals you at every fountain. I have found that extremely helpful. You need to unlock the big contractor table (another renovation project) to gain access to it.