Combat tips?

[SarcalogosVermis]

So I've started playing Nier, enjoying it so far but I've hit something of a wall and it's entirely combat related.

 

I've reached a point where I'm returning to the Aerie and there's a number of small shades running amok with magic barriers. For the life of me I cannot work out how to effectively defeat these guys with melee combat, as up until now I've been relying more on magic. They're so fast and it's easy to get swarmed. There's no lock on option, so defending doesn't help much as they can easily flank you. They are constantly knocking me out of my combos, dealing damage to me even whilst I'm hitting them! The power melee attack takes too long to charge up and besides, the game can't distinguish between you pressing and holding the square button so the charging animation is delayed by a single slash motion. I'm using up most of my healing items before I reach the boss, and even then more shades are called in after the first phase - this time I don't have my companion to help take them out. To make matters worse, the game doesn't let you save in this area. Is there some effective way of beating these little bastards without sustaining any damage?

 

Weapon-wise I'm equipped with the Level 2 Nameless Blade, and Level 1 Nirvana Dagger and Moonrise. It's still early in the game and I appreciate my gear might be too under-levelled for this fight - there are some weapons on sale in the village so is there anything more effective than what I'm currently using?

[starcrunch061]

It’s been a while since I platted the PS3 version, but combat is very loose there (it is on the ps4 version, too). I wouldn’t worry too much about combos; it’s hard to lock down swarming enemies.

The most important thing I can tell you is, unless you’re just aching for the challenge, do not play on Hard mode. Take my word for it: even if you think it improves drop rates (and every experiment I’ve run in this game suggests it doesn’t), it’s not worth the hassle.

 

Also, you’ll probably want a better weapon. Weapons are absurdly unbalanced in this game. Get yourself a Phoenix weapon (at least two of them, and maybe ALL of them, can just be bought from towns), and you’ll be unstoppable.

 

Leveling is always an option, though I’ve read that on Hard mode, enemies level as well, which goes back to point 1.

 

Sorry I don’t have more “strategy” for you. I never really saw much strategy in the combat of this game, though.

 

[SarcalogosVermis]

Many thanks for the tips starcrunch. I have been playing on Hard, but I'll drop the difficulty down if it has no effect on enemy drops as you say. I just beat the boss in the Aerie, and it took an insanely long time with my low-damage output. For this reason I'm not keen on the tiny windows for the 'destroy-given-weak-spot-in-a-limited-time' mechanic - although I have been enjoying boss battles so far, they soon become tedious when I have to keep repeating myself whenever the boss regains health.

 

Through a bit of experimentation I figured out a cheap answer to my own question. I found dodge rolling towards the shades and instantly spamming square was often powerful enough to knock them over. Its not an infallible method, I still took some damage but I managed to get through those sections relatively unscathed.

[starcrunch061]

I can’t say with 100% certainty, but I’ve tested it quite a bit (over two iterations of the game), and found absolutely no difference in drop rates.

[JukeboxSymphony]

I tend to knock them over with the magic lance and get a hit in but as others say, hard mode in both nier games is...absolutely not worth it haha.

 

Once the game gives you an overpowered sword after the very last ending you can switch it back if you want to grind though, its much more doable then. It may or may not improve odds, but better to have it on just in case (but only once its actually easy to do!! when ur level 50 with a 999 attack weapon the difference between normal is minimal, otherwise.... not worth the tiny chance of a drop increase lol)

Edited December 9, 2021 by JukeboxSymphony