Has anyone gotten the platinum after finding the first playthrough very challenging?

[Lezonidas]

I'm on the second island and so far I find it quite dificult, I've beaten 7 bosses and 3 run&gun levels and I've died 123 times already, has someone in a situation like mine completed the game on expert or I should just play 1 playthrough and let it go?

 

EDIT: I finished the game with 404 deaths, my plan is to do now an Expert + A rank playthrough, and then the Pacifist playthrough.

 

EDIT2: I did 14 of the bosses on expert, I have the Devil and 4 plane levels (Hilda, the bird, the robot and the medusa) left. It took me nearly 2 hours to beat King Dice on Expert and then in 15 minutes I got A+ rank in normal. I have to say that I cheesed a bit, I kept restarting the levels until the HP appeared on minibosses 2-4 and 7or8, then paused the game mid jump until I saw the number I wanted to parry so I could get consistently those 3 minibosses and get to King Dice with 5-6 hp, and even then it wasn't easy. 

 

EDIT3: I just beat all bosses on Expert, most of them were harder the first time when I beat them on my first playthrough because on my first playthrough I didn't know the moveset and I wasn't so fast controlling the character, I got better and the bosses didn't get much much stronger, but there were a few exceptions, bosses that were significantly harder (Wally Warbles, Hilda Berg, King Dice, The Devil and Grim Matchstick), I probably spent about 6 hours with those 4 alone, and another 6 hours with the other 15 bosses. I also got all the A ranks (if I didn't get the rank on the Expert playthrough I just replayed them again on normal and I'd get the A rank in a few tries). On my first playthrough I died 404 times, on the Expert + A rank playthrough I died 237 times, I restarted the level a ton of times because I was doing poorly though, so maybe I'd have died around 400 times as well too, I think it means that the Expert playthrough is harder, but you're better too, so it's kind of balanced. Now the Pacifist run is the only thing left to get the platinum. Wish me luck.

 

EDIT4: I did it boys, the pacifist run was fairly easy compared to the expert playthrough. So the answer to this post is "Yes, you can get the platinum even if you died 404 times in your first playthrough". I died 667 times in total, meaning I died more on my first playthrough (404 times) than on my A rank + Expert + Pacifist playthrough (263 times). However I have to admit that I restarted the levels a lot so maybe those 263 deaths would be 400 as well, but the point is that if I did it you can do it too! Good luck to anybody who goes for the platinum and have fun!

Edited August 21, 2020 by Lezonidas
Updated my progress again

[proud2bNs]

2 minutes ago, Lezonidas said:

I'm on the second island and so far I find it quite dificult, I've beaten 7 bosses and 3 run&gun levels and I've died 123 times already, has someone in a situation like mine completed the game on expert or I should just play 1 playthrough and let it go?

 That's totally okay. You'll die a lot in this game but practice will make it easier later on.

This game is hard and based on learning the boss phases and patterns until you are able to defeat them.

 

Some bosses are tougher than others and it depends on the player which ones are easier to beat - it doesn't depend on your game progress alone.

A few bosses on Island 3 are much easier than Island 2 bosses like Grim Matchstick or Wally Warbles on Expert which are considered among the hardest by most players.

[Nightstream88]

I kind of want the platinum trophy for the game, but expert mode is putting me off on it, on the positive side I think I beat the first Isle in about 1 hour which is better than when I first played the game on Xbox one and Switch.
 Haven't made it past Isle II yet I got to isle II and I'm not sure if it is just me being bad or it felt like it got harder all of a sudden compared to Isle 1

[LethalLuke1993]

When I first played this on Xbox I really struggled throughout the entire game tbh. By the time I got to Isle 2 on Expert difficulty I was at 800+ deaths which to me seemed like a lot! 

 

I will say though that it took me one night to beat more than half the bosses on Expert after I finished the game on normal. 

 

All the bosses come down to pattern recognition and holding your nerve. That's a lot easier said than done but I'm pretty certain with enough perseverance and determination anyone that beats the game once could get the Platinum. 

[Hibari-shugosha]

Yes. When I started playing the game it was pretty hard and even with that I ended up finishing Expert mode some days after finishing on Normal. You will get better at the game. Keep playing it.

[Rando-Calrisian-]

I really struggled with normal the first time I played it on Switch. 

 

It comes down to practice, patience and muscle memory. Keep pounding that rock because eventually it will break. 

 

At least on expert mode you don't need to worry about your score for platinum so you can use the two extra lives for some of the harder bosses. 

[JonLackey]

Eh, some games for me are just not worth it. I saw the pacifist trophies and I knew this wasn't going down. 

[BloodyRutz]

I did. I was expecting Expert difficulty to be much easier for me considering I did A-Rank on all bosses in a normal playthrough before moving to Expert. So, I was kinda frustrated that I did not learn much. I took more than a week pause from gaming before finishing the remaining two bosses on Expert and getting the Platinum yesterday.

 

Regarding the Pacifist runs, I did not find them that bad.

 

Keep trying!

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by BloodyRutz

[BushidoCypher]

Currently doing commentary for my all in one guide with timestamps and all so hopefully it'll be of some use.
Want everyone possible to experience this game.

[Lezonidas]

7 hours ago, BloodyRutz said:

I did. I was expecting Expert difficulty to be much easier for me considering I did A-Rank on all bosses in a normal playthrough before moving to Expert. So, I was kinda frustrated that I did not learn much. I took more than a week pause from gaming before finishing the remaining two bosses on Expert and getting the Platinum yesterday.

 

Regarding the Pacifist runs, I did not find them that bad.

 

Keep trying!

 

 

I'm already doing Expert + A-Rank playthrough. Right now I have all the A-Ranks from islands 1 and 2, and I have beaten all those bosses in expert except for the plane bosses, they're super hard for me. But I'll keep trying.

[MatThaRiPP3R84]

i wanna play this but im not sure i have the patience

[psycho_clank314]

It took me 7 days to get the plat. I was a complete newbie when I started. Regular mode is probably harder than expert, because you have no idea what the bosses do. Expert is just additional difficulty tweaks to the existing moves. It's all just practice. I got the plat at just under 700 deaths. Probably 15 hours max to do it. 

[Lezonidas]

On 18/8/2020 at 8:05 PM, psycho_clank314 said:

It took me 7 days to get the plat. I was a complete newbie when I started. Regular mode is probably harder than expert, because you have no idea what the bosses do. Expert is just additional difficulty tweaks to the existing moves. It's all just practice. I got the plat at just under 700 deaths. Probably 15 hours max to do it. 

 

I finally did it, it took about 7 days to me too but I think I played about 25-30 hours, the pacifist run was fairly easy compared to the expert playthrough but you're right, Expert is not that hard except for a few bosses, in fact most bosses were harder the first time I fought them, but a few of them gave me a hard time on Expert (Wally Warbles, Hilda Berg, King Dice, Grim Matchstick and the Devil). I died 667 times in total, meaning I died more on my first playthrough (404 times) than on my A rank + Expert + Pacifist playthrough (263 times). However I have to admit that I restarted the levels a lot so maybe those 263 deaths would be 400 as well.

[BloodyRutz]

1 hour ago, Lezonidas said:

 

I finally did it, it took about 7 days to me too but I think I played about 25-30 hours, the pacifist run was fairly easy compared to the expert playthrough but you're right, Expert is not that hard except for a few bosses, in fact most bosses were harder the first time I fought them, but a few of them gave me a hard time on Expert (Wally Warbles, Hilda Berg, King Dice, Grim Matchstick and the Devil). I died 667 times in total, meaning I died more on my first playthrough (404 times) than on my A rank + Expert + Pacifist playthrough (263 times). However I have to admit that I restarted the levels a lot so maybe those 263 deaths would be 400 as well.

 

Congrats!

[YaManSmevz]

Gotta be honest, I'm pretty trash at this game. Probably fell into the 50-60 hours crowd, died 1300 times, but I do not care because I have my shiny, beautiful Cuphead platinum!

Everybody's right about Wally Warbles on expert. I also think everybody who says King Dice and the Devil are easy on expert are lunatics BUT the robot, Cala Maria, Grim, and the pirate were shockingly easy for me on the same mode so we're all lunatics I guess.

If I hadn't walked away from this game so many times, I might've had it wrapped up within just a few weeks but oh well. If you're struggling, just keep at it - I seriously suck at this game and if I can plat it, so can you. It's a great game and totally worth the effort.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

[entonces55]

After getting the plat I had just over 1000 deaths.. at first I didn’t think I could do it nor did I have any interest l, especially after getting my ass kicked in regular. So glad I went through with it though, it feels great getting this plat in a game this challenging. 

[Storfl_92]

Well done! I always admire determination regardless if its sports, games or something else in life. In the future you may think "this is hard and really difficult" but remember if you can plat cuphead you can do everything??

[TwilightSpira]

I did all the pacifist levels and was so much fun, I'm so glad Cuphead headed to playstation.

 

I'm currently on World 3 but I decided to tackle pacifist first and the result was at least positive ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my runs in case it helps anyone. 

[LegendExeter]

I don't know, part of me wants to give up because I just don't care to do it.  This is my son's game for his birthday though and he likes the game, amazingly after all the shit we have gone through in it.

 

We are easily at about 5,000 deaths, we've beat it on normal, somewhere at around 2.5 K deaths.  Through the entire regular game we never got a single A rank...and then we did on The Devil of all people.  Makes no sense, and wasn't easy, no idea how that happened.

 

We are getting A Ranks, did Isle I, working on Isle II, none on Isle III, yet I have beat King Dice on Expert and A ranked him.

 

I honestly can't stand the game, I don't have really any patience for it, overall I just find it not fun.  I don't find it rewarding beating a boss, I feel goddamn relieved that it's over with.  I don't play games to feel relief from the pain they are causing me, or aggravation; typically like to enjoy them.  Props to those who have the platinum and put the time in for it, I honestly don't want it, yet I won't give up and neither will my son.  

 

I legit do hate the game though.  I hate several things about it, it's just so cheap, that is its ultimate downfall.  It's one thing to be hard, another to be cheap.  Take for example, whenever you use your special almost always you get hit afterward.  It's so goddamn ridiculous, and I'm sure a pro might say, oh no...you just have to get good so you can do the special attack when they aren't going to hit you afterward and it's bullshit.  I've done it many times without getting hit, but the majority of the time you do get it.  The homing targets of enemy attacks, some areas where there literally is no safe place to jump or defend yourself.  Even with the DLC I don't see how the game is incredibly easier, you can't use the Djimmi HP trick for Expert anyway, and you can't use it to get A Ranks either.  I also don't feel Miss Chalice is this great character.  Her invincible roll is pretty cool, double jump is pretty useless combined with a shorter initial jump, and her parry is just odd.  

 

It's whatever, I'm sure I will be playing it tonight, yet I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone.

 

Edit - as of this post date we have died 5,124 times.

Edited August 31, 2022 by LegendExeter

[light772sandwich]

Honestly I don’t know what to say. Just keep going at it and if you can’t anymore just give up. I recommend watching Guides/videos of people playing to understand how they are doing it. Also isle 2 is actually the hardest isle so once you do that isle 3 won’t be AS hard which is nice. I felt like this aswell but I just pushed forward and eventually did it. Another thing if your not doing this already, you need to experiment with different weapons, charms and supers in different bosses because diffent bosses have different weapons, charms, supers and even characters that are more optimal to use them in. This game is a lot about understanding the boss, it’s attacks and it’s patterns and learning it and which items can be used to there best. It’s just a game where you have to play the bosses multiple times to understand what the best way to play the bosses are. I hope my tips are use full and you get the outcome your looking for. Happy trophying!