Encouragement for those turned off by the difficulty

[AndresLionheart]

Since this forum doesn't move I just wanted to leave behind some words of encouragement for those wanting to get the Platinum for this amazing game but think is too hard from their first impression during the beginning of the game or just from reading the guide and forum posts.

Backstory

I played this game back when it was released for PC. I got the DRM free version straight from the devs site so I didn't have any steam achievements attached to my game. When I began playing for the first time I could barely do the castle part without dying and then I would die to the boss. Still, I loved the game. It was so addictive and fun to get a bit farther each time I tried, to discover what was beyond each door. The first time I set foot in the land of darkness I thought it would take me so long to be able to traverse it with ease. It probably took me around 30 or 40 deaths until I beat it. After that point I had learned so much that playing again was nothing like it, I could do pretty much everything fairly easily.

A few days ago I found out it was released on PS4 at some point so I decided to check the trophies. I was surprised at the raritiy of the plat and it was mostly tied to Thanatophobia (beat the game dying less than 15 times). I read the guide and a few forum posts and saw that it was that and the remix bosses what made it ultra rare. I thought of my experience years ago and knew it couldn't be that difficult, so I bought the game and started playing.

Some recommendations

Just how I imagined, I easily beat the game after a quick refresher of every enemy I came across.
I'm not gonna lie, I did take advantage of the special rooms being farmable, but not for gold, for health. I would sometimes do that until I got a comfortable amount of health back and then continued exploring.
With only that and my experience from years past I beat the game dying twice. I probably could have done it in like 10 deaths if I didn't use the farmable rooms for health.

A quick recommendation for upgrades distribution and class choice: Don't pick stuff like the Barbarian, its a trap. High health seems tempting but the low attack ends up making you take more hits. One shotting Mimics, Wolves or any other quick moving enemy makes it a lot easier.
Unlock the Hokage ASAP. He may have lower health, but the massive attack means you can one shot enemies early, and since he can't crit you can ignore those perks altogether and focus on purchasing health, armor and more attack! (with some weight increase every here and there to equip good armor and weapons when you get the blueprints, since eventually it becomes more efficient). With this I could beat the game with my character at level 43. Yes, you gotta be careful, but thats the best way to play this game.
Don't unlock other classes you don't want to use. The more classes you have, the lesser the chances of getting a Shinobi/Hokage each time you die.
The other recommended class is Knight/Paladin.
Learn how enemies behave and develop strategies for them. My archnemesis were the wolves, but then I learned the distance they started running at me and that I can force them to jump by jumping a bit when they are in a platform that is just a bit lower than mine.

Remix Bosses

I won't comment much on the remix bosses strategies because this isn't a guide, plus how difficult they are is really up to each individual player. Personally I only found Neo Khidr a bit annoying just because of the little amount of room to maneuver.
I do have a lot of experience with platformers so that may have something do with it. So if you are someone who has played games like Megaman, Mario, Shovel Knight, etc, and are any good at them, it shouldn't be much of a problem.
If I read the posts of people talking about their difficulty before playing I would have been turned off by how they talked about it, but it really isn't THAT difficult.

Personal opinion on difficulty

The guide puts it at 9/10. I think its a 5/10 for people who are good at tight controlled platformers.

 

tl;dr

Its not as bad as people make it out to be. Its much easier the second time through.

Edited October 27, 2017 by AndresLionheart

[AJ_Radio]

I think the 9 out of 10 is for people who have never played platformers, or at least aren't too familiar with them.

 

I have Rogue Legacy on Steam as well as on PS4. Personally I don't play too well on a keyboard so I use a controller.

 

Everything is random, that may be why a lot of people rate this game high on the difficulty scale. Plus the remix bosses alone take a lot of practice and patience. They're far from impossible but they're definitely very difficult if you don't know their movement patterns and attack patterns.

 

For the beating the game while dying less than 15 times trophy, just back your save up to the Cloud or USB. That gives you an infinite number of retries to tackle the four bosses in each area (Castle, Garden, Tower and Dungeon) and eventually beat the game.

[Dessane]

You just reminded me that I have this game. I might have to have another crack at it!

[AndresLionheart]

8 hours ago, Dessane said:

You just reminded me that I have this game. I might have to have another crack at it!

 

You totally should! I wanted to replay this game for some time to test my theory of it being much easier the second time around but with so many other games to play I needed an incentive, and trophies are always the way to incentivize me, especially when it includes several Ultra Rares! (type which I only had 1).

 

Back on PC I played until New Game +5 at which point the game becomes too annoying. IMO, NG+2 is the last enjoyable difficulty.

[IDiivil]

One thing that also contributes to the rarity of the trophies is that the game was a PS+ title at some point. That tends to always inflate the rarity percentages of the trophies. I do agree that the 9/10 difficulty on the guide probably contributes to the low percentages as well, as it will effectively deter people from getting into the game.

 

I've personally had this game in my backlog since it came out. Just never really found the time to get into it properly. Planning on doing it sometime soon though.

[Undead Wolf]

Yeah, 9/10 difficulty is definitely too high for this game. The PST guide has it set to 7/10 which I think is about right. Outside of the remix bosses, everything else can be overcome with money farming. The trophy for dying 15 times or less can also be cheesed with cloud saves. As has already been mentioned, the platinum is only that rare because it was a PS+ title a while back.

 

Very fun game, and I'd recommend people who were put off by the difficulty to give it a chance. It's probably not as hard as you think it is.

[Dragon-Archon]

9 hours ago, Dessane said:

You just reminded me that I have this game. I might have to have another crack at it!

Same here, got it from PS+, then forgot all about it  . 

[Hourisathand]

The remix bosses are prettt difficult for me but besides that, it’s not too bad. I’m on the 3rd remix boss but I’ve been stuck on it for awhile now.

[Dragon-Archon]

Seeing how everyone agrees with the difficulty rating being too high in the guide, I've lowered it to 8/10 as a placeholder. I'm planning to start the game soon, so afterwards I'll have firsthand knowledge about it and the actual difficulty.

[AndresLionheart]

6 hours ago, Dragon-Archon said:

Seeing how everyone agrees with the difficulty rating being too high in the guide, I've lowered it to 8/10 as a placeholder. I'm planning to start the game soon, so afterwards I'll have firsthand knowledge about it and the actual difficulty.

 

I didn't even know someone else's guide could be changed like that =o. I'm always late to games (as evident by most of my latest trophies) so most of the time I miss my chance to give some input on the guides I use.

 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the game whenever you get to it. I have this weird love for this game so I'm always trying to get people to play it =)

[Dragon-Archon]

14 minutes ago, AndresLionheart said:

 

I didn't even know someone else's guide could be changed like that =o. I'm always late to games (as evident by most of my latest trophies) so most of the time I miss my chance to give some input on the guides I use.

 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the game whenever you get to it. I have this weird love for this game so I'm always trying to get people to play it =)

Guide Team members can edit guides if necessary. If you have a tip or a suggestions for improvements, every guide has a comment section, so you can notify the guide writer about it.

 

Thanks, I hope so too.

[TwilightSpira]

46 minutes ago, Dragon-Archon said:

Guide Team members can edit guides if necessary. If you have a tip or a suggestions for improvements, every guide has a comment section, so you can notify the guide writer about it.

 

Thanks, I hope so too.

 

Like the boss you are,

However before you leave towards the goal of finding the perfect tree of life offspring, give me the I am thou thou art I platinum, itching here

 

Rogue legacy is indeed a 7, the remix bosses are tough specially the eye ball one, but with practice it's totally doable, fantastic game trough. A 9 platformer in difficulty for me was the La Mulana platinum, that one was tough. 

 

[Juzota]

I would rate the difficulty 8/10, but I didn't savescum so that made it bit harder. And the fact that I was able to get the 15-lives trophy without cloudsaving means that this game isn't impossible to Plat. If I can do it, anyone can.

[Dragon-Archon]

15 minutes ago, Mah2c said:

 

Like the boss you are,

However before you leave towards the goal of finding the perfect tree of life offspring, give me the I am thou thou art I platinum, itching here

 

Rogue legacy is indeed a 7, the remix bosses are tough specially the eye ball one, but with practice it's totally doable, fantastic game trough. A 9 platformer in difficulty for me was the La Mulana platinum, that one was tough. 

 

Don't worry bud, I'm working on it. Started NG+ today, so almost got the plat.

 

Ok, that's good to know. I'm looking forward to playing this game.

[diskdocx]

8 hours ago, Dragon-Archon said:

Seeing how everyone agrees with the difficulty rating being too high in the guide, I've lowered it to 8/10 as a placeholder. I'm planning to start the game soon, so afterwards I'll have firsthand knowledge about it and the actual difficulty.

I would agree with the 8, assuming you are coming into the game with a moderate amount of skill. 5/10 is way too lower for the average gamer. The remix bosses are tough. Very, very tough.

 

I doubt I will ever get the plat on this game, and other than Killzone 2, this will probably be the only game on my profile that is beyond me.

 

As a comparable, I would put it around the level of Velocity 2x. A very very hard plat, that is achievable for the average gamer with skill and practice and patience.

[AndresLionheart]

17 minutes ago, diskdocx said:

I would agree with the 8, assuming you are coming into the game with a moderate amount of skill. 5/10 is way too lower for the average gamer. The remix bosses are tough. Very, very tough.

 

I guess I'm a bit biased since I didn't have much trouble with the remix bosses (got all the main 4 in about 25 minutes), but thats why the discussion for an average difficulty score is good.

 

If I was faced with an FPS game challenge I would probably rate it 15/10 because I can't play FPSs on a stick (Mouse + Keyboard or motion controls like in Splatoon is how I can only play those at a respectable level)

[Dessane]

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 10:04 PM, Dragon-Archon said:

Same here, got it from PS+, then forgot all about it  . 

 

I have so many games like that. Its a scary big backlog if I look at them. PS+ for years will do that ?

[Dragon-Archon]

On 28-10-2017 at 5:58 PM, diskdocx said:

I would agree with the 8, assuming you are coming into the game with a moderate amount of skill. 5/10 is way too lower for the average gamer. The remix bosses are tough. Very, very tough.

 

I doubt I will ever get the plat on this game, and other than Killzone 2, this will probably be the only game on my profile that is beyond me.

 

As a comparable, I would put it around the level of Velocity 2x. A very very hard plat, that is achievable for the average gamer with skill and practice and patience.

Ok, good to know. Thanks for the input  . I haven't played Velocity 2x, but IIRC it was a PS+ game, so it should be somewhere in the backlog  .

 

6 hours ago, Dessane said:

 

I have so many games like that. Its a scary big backlog if I look at them. PS+ for years will do that

Same here, I've still got PS+ from years ago that are in the backlog  .

[AJ_Radio]

I find the Barbarian very good for early on but once you get better gear and reach New Game Plus, he is not that good. 

 

Always grab a Hokage. Their damage output more than makes up for their low HP. I still kill enemies within 2 - 3 hits on New Game Plus at the Castle and Garden.

 

The bosses on the other hand, yikes. They take a lot more hits.

[AJ_Radio]

Did three of the five remix bosses in the span of a few hours, with a couple breaks here and there.

 

Neo Khidr - Probably has the highest learning curve of all the remix bosses. He has four patterns which you must watch and dodge properly. Double Jump combined with Dash is a huge priority here. He seems very intimating at first and you may think he's extremely difficult at the beginning. I spent a hour on him practicing and eventually I got good enough to dodge most of his attacks and killed him.

 

Alexander the IV - Some people say he is the toughest remix boss but I think that's a bit of an over exaggeration. Yes, he is tough at first, especially with all the little minions he spawns and how much quicker he is than The Forgotten Alexander. The minions are both good and bad. Good in that they give you some health back, bad in that if you don't keep them under control they will swarm you. It becomes a full time job by that point.

 

If you're going to get hit, get hit by the spikes. The spikes only do 21 hitpoints of damage and there are usually enough minions for you to get that health back. The minions do 34 hitpoints of damage, and Alexander himself does 63 hitpoints of damage. Huge difference there, the reason I kept dying dozens of times was because I was letting myself get hit by Alexander and not the spikes. I got hit by the spikes a lot, but it made a big difference whether I was going to kill him or I was going to die. Wait for the right moment to hit him, usually when he stops and does his attack close to a platform. Whack him a few times then use the Hokage teleport option to move past the spikes in the middle to the other side, get some health back, rinse and repeat.

 

Ponce de Freon - This is the boss I struggled with the most. You are a Barbarian with SIX jumps and a dash. What makes this difficult is Freon's green fireballs last much longer than Ponce de Leon's fireballs do. Getting him to zig zag around the area and jumping carefully to avoid those fireballs isn't always easy. Lots of practice was needed here. You have three shouts, which is the Barbarian unique ability that removes all the fireballs visible on the screen. With Ponce de Leon you can just do a simple circle around his area and that was enough for the fireballs to disappear. But here the fireballs last longer, so you have to make Freon zig zag and have him get some fireballs inside the walls if you can.

 

Definitely a tough one, but doable with practice and determination.

 

--

 

I haven't gotten to the other remix bosses yet so I can't comment.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Spaz

[AndresLionheart]

@Spaz don't you worry. The last 2 are easier.

 

I did this again a few months ago on Steam when Thanatophobia was added as an achievement.

It was kinda funny when I did Astrodotus because I'm normally very meticulous on that one, but this time I decided to try just attacking constantly and focusing on avoiding, and it worked, lol. I don't recommend that strategy, but it can be worth trying here and there if it's getting you frustrated.

 

The last remix boss is kind of a joke because you can take so many hits...

 

Oh, also, I read some patch note that it said they added a way to improve the remix boss character. So I guess anyone can do it now, even if not skilled enough.

[starcrunch061]

1 minute ago, AndresLionheart said:

Oh, also, I read some patch note that it said they added a way to improve the remix boss character. So I guess anyone can do it now, even if not skilled enough.

 

Really? I thought the whole point was to beat the boss with a fixed character? ?

 

[AndresLionheart]

1 hour ago, starcrunch061 said:

Really? I thought the whole point was to beat the boss with a fixed character? 

Yeah... it is kinda lame. It still is that character with the same abilities, but you can improve its stats permanently by paying gold at the remix boss entrance. I don't know how many times you can do it, but probably enough to trivialize the difficulty.

 

Thanatophobia could be save scummed, so the remix bosses were the only non-cheesable part. I think they want everyone to be able to beat everything before Rogue Legacy 2 comes out. Kinda like how end-game content get nerfed greatly on MMOs before the new expansion comes out.

[AJ_Radio]

10 hours ago, AndresLionheart said:

@Spaz don't you worry. The last 2 are easier.

 

I did this again a few months ago on Steam when Thanatophobia was added as an achievement.

It was kinda funny when I did Astrodotus because I'm normally very meticulous on that one, but this time I decided to try just attacking constantly and focusing on avoiding, and it worked, lol. I don't recommend that strategy, but it can be worth trying here and there if it's getting you frustrated.

 

The last remix boss is kind of a joke because you can take so many hits...

 

Oh, also, I read some patch note that it said they added a way to improve the remix boss character. So I guess anyone can do it now, even if not skilled enough.

 

The higher trophy percentage sort of gives away the notion that Astrodotus is easier than the others. 

 

8 hours ago, AndresLionheart said:

Yeah... it is kinda lame. It still is that character with the same abilities, but you can improve its stats permanently by paying gold at the remix boss entrance. I don't know how many times you can do it, but probably enough to trivialize the difficulty.

 

Thanatophobia could be save scummed, so the remix bosses were the only non-cheesable part. I think they want everyone to be able to beat everything before Rogue Legacy 2 comes out. Kinda like how end-game content get nerfed greatly on MMOs before the new expansion comes out.

 

Really? 

 

I did those remix characters on a level 0 character. 

 

Still I think that’s rather lame. Making the difficulty easier just to prepare for a sequel is stupid in my opinion. 

 

World of Warcraft did this a few times if I remember correctly. 

[Dragon-Archon]

I've started the game too (finally ) and added some information to the guide here and there, since the author doesn't seem to be active.

 

On 10/4/2018 at 10:22 AM, Spaz said:

Did three of the five remix bosses in the span of a few hours, with a couple breaks here and there.

 

Neo Khidr - Probably has the highest learning curve of all the remix bosses. He has four patterns which you must watch and dodge properly. Double Jump combined with Dash is a huge priority here. He seems very intimating at first and you may think he's extremely difficult at the beginning. I spent a hour on him practicing and eventually I got good enough to dodge most of his attacks and killed him.

 

Alexander the IV - Some people say he is the toughest remix boss but I think that's a bit of an over exaggeration. Yes, he is tough at first, especially with all the little minions he spawns and how much quicker he is than The Forgotten Alexander. The minions are both good and bad. Good in that they give you some health back, bad in that if you don't keep them under control they will swarm you. It becomes a full time job by that point.

 

If you're going to get hit, get hit by the spikes. The spikes only do 21 hitpoints of damage and there are usually enough minions for you to get that health back. The minions do 34 hitpoints of damage, and Alexander himself does 63 hitpoints of damage. Huge difference there, the reason I kept dying dozens of times was because I was letting myself get hit by Alexander and not the spikes. I got hit by the spikes a lot, but it made a big difference whether I was going to kill him or I was going to die. Wait for the right moment to hit him, usually when he stops and does his attack close to a platform. Whack him a few times then use the Hokage teleport option to move past the spikes in the middle to the other side, get some health back, rinse and repeat.

 

Ponce de Freon - This is the boss I struggled with the most. You are a Barbarian with SIX jumps and a dash. What makes this difficult is Freon's green fireballs last much longer than Ponce de Leon's fireballs do. Getting him to zig zag around the area and jumping carefully to avoid those fireballs isn't always easy. Lots of practice was needed here. You have three shouts, which is the Barbarian unique ability that removes all the fireballs visible on the screen. With Ponce de Leon you can just do a simple circle around his area and that was enough for the fireballs to disappear. But here the fireballs last longer, so you have to make Freon zig zag and have him get some fireballs inside the walls if you can.

 

Definitely a tough one, but doable with practice and determination.

 

--

 

I haven't gotten to the other remix bosses yet so I can't comment.

Nice, I'll be sure to use this against the remix bosses.