Trials of Archimedes Hard tips

[lordfenton]

This took me 3 days, a bunch of Sacred 2 PC, and LEGO Lord of the Rings PS 3 breaks but I did it about 1-2 days ago and got my plat. So being the nice guy at this time I'll give you all how I handle this and won.

 

 

Basics:

 

There is ZERO checkpoints til you killed the final wraith in stage 3. That's right you die you start that stage 1.

Your Oathstone aka Shadow Kratos I call and Amulet aka Slow Bubble can cheese some parts of the trials.

Block and Dodge helps. Parry ONLY at phase 2 I'll explain.

Max out  Oathstone, Amulet, Blades of Chaos, Ares, Hades, Zeus in that order. Poseidon well it sucked the entire game so avoid upgrading that til dead last.

It's ok to use Magic I'll explain

Last tip very important: If foes have red above the head grab it's an chance at free health, magic or both.

 

 

Stage 1: Gorgons and Sirens

 

Going to say this upfront your health will most likely be taking a hit depending on how well you dodge, and block. AVOID parrying in this phase. Sure you can crack in a parry and land it on an Gorgon but chances are you'll be turned to stone and up to be one shotted. The two Gorgons start out. Dodge and block like crazy. If they grab you it's ok it's their LEAST damaging ability compared to the stoning and swipes. Use your Oathstone and Amulet timers. Both should be upgraded after hitting level 4 on the Blades of Chaos. The Amulet with an 10 second timer can breeze this part of phase 1. Try to line em up so both are in the range of the slow effect. I'd used Ares on this to quickly try to put the both in the red. Make sure it's in the red both so you can grab both fast and worry only about 2 Gorgons and 4 Sirens.  For the Gorgons i used the Square X 5 combo do what you feel what you can do to widdle their health down to the red. After two Gorgons are down the Sirens pops up. These gals you can block their attacks EXCEPT that call lighting crap. Watch the floor than dodge out of it. Now best bet to deal with these gals is to get em to the edge of the arena and pop your Ares or Zeus magic. I used Zeus since if your fast like I am with the L1 and R1 button you can get some extra damage in and make em fly the Sirens. I did ring out two in one pop. You can use the club from Chapter 27 but that's closing it in and too dangerous at times. Still hit magic on it and if you see either the Gorgon or Sirens head pops red go for the Sirens first since the Gorgons have a longer wear off timer being in the red. Both Sirens and Gorgons gives out free magic so use Zeus/Ares about 3-4 times than save it.  With magic being used til the 3-4 times you used it you should only have either zero or 1 gorgon and about 1-2 sirens. If it's at that point abuse Oathstone and Amulet. Those two items will cheese that part too if done right and if you time em right or in the amulet's case line up your foes to all be slowed. Once this phase is done you should have 2-3 magic bars left.

 

Stage 2: Spear Blue Maidens, Harpies and 1 Talos 

 

I said to parry in phase 2 do it. When phase 2 started I hit Oathstone than when she lands hit up Amulet really fast. I got both at the start of phase 2 with the amulet. After that start parrying the Spear Maidens. This way you can counter em and they'll be in the white. That's when you toss em to the other one. Now I'd equipped Hades in case I accidently either kill them or ringed them out. The harpies are an joke so don't focus on them much as the Maidens. When a maiden on the red grab em, and you'll get free health. Good if phase 1 tore you up and your tearing it up in phase 2. After the maidens with Hades equipped toss out the harpies. All 4 of em to be exact. After the harpies are gone Talos appears. This statue with lighting can be a pain plus the statue traps starts spewing out fire. This is when you slow em down on one end and range attack em. My Hades L1 + Triangle from far made it eaiser since I just focus on dodging the statues and dodging Talos when he's glowing. When Talos is glowing make sure it's at either the end statues or else get ready to serious dodge and move like crazy. When he glows at the end get near him than dodge fast. DO NOT BLOCK, sicne blocking will still draw you to him. Key to this part of the phase is to avoid fire and charge up Talos. His basic attacks are stupid easy to dodge. Again if you need to use magic ONCE and at the spear maiden + harpies phase your going to need it. Once Talos is in the red do the QTE and get some orbs. I accidently killed him with Hades and got more health out of him. Still don't totally depend on Hades for that.

 

Stage 3: 1 Centaur and 3 Wraiths

 

This path is easy if you know your foes. I got here and right off the bat Amulet the Centaur and quick work him til it wore off. Than hit the Oathstone and block and dodge. If he does the QTE be quick and hit the button it tells you, This will knock him down and if your amulet is up he'll stay down longer for you to beat up on. I used 100% Hades at this point to tear him a new one and abused L3 and R3. The Centaur attacks are all blockable even the QTE one. Once he's in the red quickly do the QTE and you'll receive 15-20% health. After the Centaur is down two Wraiths shows up. I'd spammed Hades magic on both, when no magic I used Oathstone and Amulet. The two L2 items will breeze this part plus if you hit R1 when they are in the ground, try to hit the other with it. If your rage metter is full using Hades helps. I got two at the same time to the red and went to town on both of em. The third one shows up after one of the wraiths dies and if he's left abuse Oathstone, Amulet and R1 if he's in the ground. Just say the last wraith was my stunlock toy. Once the last one is in the red grab him and go to town on him and thus the Trials are over.

After the trials is done you should be on your to finishing Hard and believe me it's smooth after this. Anyone who did the trials can add to my tips I'm giving you all here.

[Vanilla]

i had no trouble with this part at all, i just used fire magic, the oath stone of orkos, the amulet (the bubble thing), and rolled around alot.  i also had everything maxed out

Edited March 20, 2013 by shawnbenham

[HardXDXtraga]

I can't say I had trouble either, if you know how to use your weapons and be pacient this can be easy.

 

Phase 1(only hard part really):

I had everything maxed out by this time but I only used Zeus's magic and the oath stone of orkos.

First part, only gorgons, use 1 magic bar per gorgon since every gorgon refills 1 magic bar, dodge and land a hit whenever you can

When the sirens appeared I used ALL 4 magic bars to get rid of them as fast as possible, still had to damage them a bit after all the magic though, and I had like 1/4 of my life by the end of this phase.

 

Phase 2:

Send birds off the platform and they'll die instantly, I only blocked and user the oath stone whenever I could, once the thunder guy appears just use the oath stone, he'll stay electrified after a few hits, when he does just get away from him, repeat 3 times and you have survived this phase.

 

Phase 3:

Block, block, block, you can only get hit when the wraiths are on the ground, pull them up and attack when you can, this is easy, just stay calm and you'll see that the only hard part is the 1st (and only because of the syrens really...)

[Trigun1081]

This part was such a pain in the ass.  I considered myself very proficient in GOW having platinumed all 5 previous games (actually they were my first 5 platiinums ever) so I started this game on hard.  The game itself wasn't that difficult, but I spent more time playing this part than I spent playing the rest of the game.  It took me 12 hours to beat, but when I finally did it I was as elated as I have ever been in recent gaming.  My tip is to just keep at it even if it feels like it is taking forever, because it is worth the effort when you finally  

do it.  Especially if you do it on hard before the patch come out.

[HardXDXtraga]

That patch is a joke, if you can't beat something like this trial you should really think of how much of a gamer you are.

Is it hard? yes, yes it is (but you are playing on HARD mode, you can't expect it to be easy now can you?)

Is it impossible? not at all, if you can't do it try harder or try another strategy or take some time off and come back later.

Almost 2.500 players have won the Legendary warrior trophy, and I have a hard time believing that all those players were between the best in the world.

 

Games nowadays are so easy that when a real challenge appears everyone freaks out and calls it impossible.

 

I meant no offense to anyone by writing this, it is only my opinion.

[Yoshi]

Games nowadays are so easy that when a real challenge appears everyone freaks out and calls it impossible.

 

I meant no offense to anyone by writing this, it is only my opinion

 

You're right. I've said it before and i'll say it again, gamers today are whiny b******

 

I was going to go on a small rant but for the sake of everyone else, i wont.

[drummerklg]

What a joke, beat it on my first try, block and the oath stone are your friends here, just let him do all the work pretty much, finished it in 15 minutes on my first try..

[boboMELOSHE]

Just beat this on hard and got my plat I used a combination of the Ares and Hades blades to get me through on my 3rd attempt. 1st phase I spammed the bubble and clone items while dodging,it took a while but I saved all my magic for round 2. As soon as round 2 began I bubbled the amazon and summoned the clone, then I went to town with Hades magic. This ended the round pretty quickly (same method was used on the electric Talos). I barely survived round 3 because every time i would dodge i would hit the spikes, when i only had a sliver of health left i held down block and let loose my clone when i had the chance. I was so happy when I finally got it

[TENCHU_REPPA]

just use hades magic and bam that easy

[XIIIfaces]

The Trial of Archimedes on hard is very overrated. It isn't that difficult, you just have to have some strategy instead of just going beserk and attacking like a madman. I got through it on my second try just using Blades of Chaos, Fire of Ares, Soul of Hades, Amulet of Uroborus, and Oath Stone of Orkos. I personally think that the Fire of Ares and Soul of Hades yield the best magic and rage attacks. Block is your best friend, and always try to execute enemies utilizing the red bar over their head, as you will usually get health or magic back, which can be the difference between winning and losing.

[Christopher]

From what I'm getting out of this thread they nerfed it? Wow, I'm judging the Devs. If you can't beat the battle, dont continue on that difficulty. 

[lordfenton]

Well it's out and those who did it before the patch congrats and those who did it after and whined well you really haven't seen hard. I have as in Bionic Commando NES hard. Here's the link:

 

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2013/03/25/god-of-war-ascension-patch-1-03-is-out-tones-down-the-trial-of-archimedes/

 

 

 

Still this day in and age difficulty people whine about instead of actual storyline and gameplay *cough COD should be complained about*. Keep the tips going for people who needs help on em.

[MatCauthon]

I platinumed the game last  night, and now I wish I hadn't downloaded the patch. The Trial was a cakewalk that I beat after one attempt, and barely lost any health for the entire fight. 

 

I never had the opportunity to play that part pre-patch, so I don't know how much more difficult it actually was. 

Edited March 29, 2013 by MatCauthon

[HardXDXtraga]

Delete the patch and see for yourself

[dutchknight]

I finished it today.  Not too bad on Hard.

 

Block a LOT.  Patience.  Don't even bother with Poseidon's Magic (waste of time).

 

I just mixed in the other 3, amulet and used my "Wonder Twin Powers" (Orkos)

 

Took me a little less than an hour.

[MatCauthon]

Delete the patch and see for yourself

 

Eh, that would require me to start a new game. And I don't think I could stomach another run through this entry into the GoW franchise. 

[Curb]

Eh, that would require me to start a new game. And I don't think I could stomach another run through this entry into the GoW franchise. 

 

Yeah, I was very disappointed with this one. The story was okay, but mostly the gameplay changes left me feeling unsettled. So much so that I left the game for about two weeks after I first started playing... and now my timestamps will lead folks to believe I needed the patch to get through the game

[Bullstomp]

I beat this over the weekend. I don't care what everyone says, this was hard. And sucked. Things I didn't like -

• Small space to move in
• Medusa tail swipe takes out half the platform. Two Medusas at a time. Do the math.
• You can try building your rage meter but if the Medusas wrap you up, you take damage and lose your complete rage meter down to zero!! (This sucked pretty badly)
• Sirens are particularly cheesy, with their different lightning attacks. I beat them by going to a corner and doing the Hades special to knock them off of the platform. Hey, if they can cheese I can cheese back!
• The different powers are supposed to make different orbs appear. Hades blades are supposed to make health orbs. Not in this section! And no health boxes in sight throughout this either.
• 1st part is definitely the hardest, but as was mentioned use the "wonder twin" and amulet to even things out. Use your environment too. On the third part I pushed the mobs into the wall spikes for easy kills, either with magic or amulet/attack.

Took me a bit less than two hours of frustration for me on hard(and the rest of the game from here was like 20 min, VERY easy final boss fight, even on hard). It would be easy for me to lie like other people on this thread and say "yeah, I beat it my first try with a screaming baby in one hand, eating a messy taco in the other and using my feet to manipulate the controller", but I prefer honesty over bravado. BTW, nice way to fluff gameplay-time, developers!

 

Not happy with this game, they changed everything I liked and made it worse (except the buttonless minigames, I liked those) Kratos was boring and silent for the most part, plot was tedious and I cared less how it ended; very anti-climactic. I really thought it would have at least ended on the precipice with Kratos about to jump, as the begining of God of War started, but the programmers couldn't even get that right.

[DPthe32man]

This really felt like a real god of war challenge! Yes I´v spent a lot of time trying to do it on hard but it was worth of my time

Edited July 22, 2013 by DPthe32man

[Richancey]

The Trial of Archimedes handed it to me on normal but it gave me practice too. I had to go back and replay the stage because I forgot to get a possession and breezed through it on my second attempt. Then when I played it on hard I beat it on my first try with 50% health and 75% magic at the end. The mistake people make is starting the game on hard trying to get every trophy as quickly as possible and when you get to the Trial the spike in difficulty catches a lot of people off guard I think. My advice would be to start on normal and get a feel for things, the game isn't that long anyway and without a proper challenge mode the game is a very attainable platinum. As for the game itself, not a bad game but the worst in the series. The developers blew a real chance at a great game. I was hoping Ascension would follow the adventures of Kratos as he rose in power (Ascension right?) as a general and ended with his death on the battlefield praying to Ares in an epic cut scene that would have set up the whole series. Oh well.

[Sonny_FIRESTORM]

I used to play way b4 PSN got to brasil, so after a while i made a new account to be able to buy stuff.

 

The crappy part was that i had to give up all my saves (that did help me get rid of some unwanted trophies however, i won't complain about that part), so here i am recovering the 100% i had (not gonna talk about the online part T_T).

 

The Good part is that i can get everything in one run, and right now the only 2 missables trophies left are the artifacts one (got 9/10, already know where the last one is) and the 100 amulet uses one (this might be troublesome but whatever).

 

Yeah, i'm stuck on this trial, it's stupid, it's pointless, it's giving me a hard time, but honestly... about time something made me feel like that again, recently the only things i've been facing were cheap deaths (Sonic Unleashed, those who played that game know what i'm talking about) and neverending grinding (Kingdom Hearts Re:CoM e_e)...

 

Only wish i could see what it was like b4 the patch, that thing got released before i got the game (not gonna drop my save now e_e), i'm sure it was hell, but it's that kinda thing that makes games worth it in my oppinion.

[Richancey]

The Trial being hard definitely made it feel like a true God of War game, it was a real challenge. At least it wasn't cheap like Sonic Generations. I never played Unleashed but I can imagine. Ugh, don't even get me started on how cheap Sonic Generations was.

[GoldenShaka]

Kinda sad i beat the trials after patch, i tried to play without updating the game, but the game didn't let me play until i install the patch, and i remember that i was offline, so idk what internally happened on my ps3 to just be programmed (even offline) to always require to install the patch, interrupting the game continuously, so i had to log in and install it.

Anyway, i found the trial somewhat hard, then i saw a youtube video and it was really interesting to find that this challenge is very doable (even pre-patch) with the deflect thing with the gorgons to build meter quickly, saving that magic for the next stages helpsss a lot.

[PureLuxiix]

The trials were fun but sooo hard, nearly died because of this everytime I'm nearly at the end.

[Darumacho]

I didn't find the Trials that hard (success on first try, on Hard) ; just dodge and/or block attacks + use Hades power