darkSpyro

...typical.

Gaul's first form was actually MUCH more annoying than his second. Strictly because if he jumped on you, it was a one-hit KO no matter how much health you had. But I developed a system of hopping around the arena, and managed to stay far enough away from Gaul. I also memorized the number of jumps he made (I think it was 5 or 6), and then jumped TOWARD him on the last jump, so I could score the most melee hits on him.

His second form was RIDICULOUSLY easy. All I had to do was dodge the lasers with dragon time, then pelt him to death with Convexity Breath. It was stupid; I could take out like, a fifth of his health bar and only loose a tiny fraction of Convexity Breath. Then dodging his tornado was a matter of standing as far away as possible when he started it, which was easy because I always was.

His "third" health meter was just a fury attack. Actually, and I think this a programing error, I didn't even USE the fury. I hit him with another blast of Convexity Breath and the final cutscene ensued. The ending was indeed, very sad.

I also did the first Dragon Challenge. It was very easy. Although I think Krome was very foolish to have the Dingos be the last enemies I faced, even AFTER the Raid Commanders. And then, when I finished the challenge, IGNITUS just magically teleported in. That was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen!

Now, a question about the challenges. Does each challenge take place in one of the five worlds? And are more annoying enemies like those Buffalo going to appear?

yes, buffalos appear, along with dun dun dun dreadwings. also, the challenges are in uhh the temple, fellmuth arena, the place you fight gaul, CONCRUENT SKIES (cynder's world) (the music is there to i loooove that music) and the place you fight the elemental dragon. there are invisible baboons in the last one...ugh.

Interesting... interesting.

I'm guessing the buffalos will appear in the Well of Souls. So I can still run them into a bottomless pit. <.< >.>

The dragon challenges are moderatly difficult ; if you're good at crowd control, you should get past them. The third and fifth challenges are the most difficulty although the fourth one does get pretty hectic and include Dreadwings, who are among the most powerful foes in the game (although the Buffalo knights are worse in my opinion due to the sheer damage they inflict and their spot-on counter-attacking abilities).

Challenge #3 actually take place on the same arena where you fought Gaul's second form so it means that you have plenty of space... not. Although extra walls have been added and a few respawning gems are present, the main danger here is being knocked off the stage, something the foes are experts at in this challenge. I don't remember seeing Buffalos ; probably because I always eliminate them first when they appear. There WILL be invisible Dark Commanders near the end so I suggest you keep your fury meter high.

Challenge #5 is special ; you have 4 spawning points that will produce, in order: 4-5 Dark Grunts, 4-5 Dark Lieutenants, 2-3 Dark Commanders, 2-3 Invisible Dark Commanders. The first spawning point spawn Dark Ones in the style of stage 1, the second spawn pirates, the third one spawn enemies from Malefor, the final one spawn foes in the style of Mt. Boyzitbig from ANB. The foes from the first stage are the easiest so I suggest you leave them alone ; fighting the Dark Commanders from this stage is easier. Be SURE to NOT have Dark Commanders from ANB and TEN Malefor at the same time! Multiple ring lasers + delayed ring lasers = nearly anavoidable attacks, Dragon Time or not. Dragon Challenge #5 is all about patience and deliberate, methodical termination. If you make sure to eliminate foes in a way that only one type of dangerous enemies is on the arena at once, you shouldn't have too much trouble. If you just kill foes as they come, you WILL get yourself killed ; 4 Dark Commanders of 4 different types at once if more than a purple dragon hatchling can handle.

Well, good luck and have fun!

Extra Note: So I'm not the only one who found Gaul's second form on Wii/PS2 disappointing? Gaul was not easy by any mean but compared to getting through the stage of Malefor, he's a bit of an anticlimatic final fight. Gaul on the GBA was MUCH harder overall.

His jumping attack was annoying... until I found out he used a "long-jump"-"short jump" pattern. I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but his odd numbered jumps always let him cover more ground, especially the first one. Plus, it helped that I counted how many jumps he did, so I knew when to jump towards him instead of away. And his fireball attack was lame too... you didn't even need Dragon Time.

Mt. Boyzitbig? Is that Munitions Forge or something?!

Yes, the Munitions Forge stage.

Dragon Challenge #4 feature foes in the style of Concurrent Skies ; this means that the foes' stats are pretty high and they're very aggressive. Still, they're easier than the Malefor style foes. However, since the foes use the ANB style, they also have the attack patterns of ANB ; Dark Commanders fire delayed rings instead of multiple rings and the foes don't block (but they charge at you in a single-minded fury not seen in the regular stage enemies).

Dragon Challenge 5 feature enemies from Munitions Forge in the mix. They fight like those from Dragon Challenge 4 but are easier to kill. This is a good thing since you'll probably have your hands full with the Malefor style foes anyway.

(Once you get to challenge 5, I suggest you kill the pirates first ; they have the most threatening grunts and their Commanders are the easiest to kill. Finish the TEN Dragon Temple foes next ; they're the easiest overall to kill and it will make the arena less crowded. Then, focus on the Munition Forge foes ; their Lieutenant-level foes throw dynamite non-stop, which is deadlier than the Malefor's ice bombs. Be sure to finish off the Munition Forge commanders before starting killing Malefor foes ; as stated before, Malefor Commanders mixed to Munitions Forge Commanders is a force to be reckoned with. Once the Malefor foes are alone, finishing them off. Once you've killed everyone, deal with the Invisible Commanders any way you like)

In terms of charging... our magical attacks will easily deflect the charge... specifically Comet Dash and Electric Spin, my two favorite.

Also, does those big knights with two health meters that turn into Skeletons appear... they're from Malefor.

I appreciate the advice. In terms of Leaders bombs, I'm almost always doing that air melee... which seems to luckily knock the bombs back at enemies... that how I beat Skabb despite only hitting him with melee attacks 9 times... plenty o' bombs! Also, the delayed rings are better in my opinion, as I don't need dragon time to dodge them, because the pause is short enough for the waves to come out after I double jump.

No ; you only get to fight Dark Ones (apes) during Challenge #4 and 5... well, mostly Dark Ones on Challenge #4 (Dreadwings appear).

As for the rings, the delayed rings alone are not that hard to dodge ; it's when they coupled with the multiple rings from the Malefor Commanders that they become deadly, which is why I say to kill the Munition Forge Commanders first ; the delayed rings alone are relatively easy to dodge (although a whole game of fighting foes using the multiple rings style might throw off your timing your first few attempts).

Challenge 5 has actually only one foe from each type on the arena at once ; it's not by sheer number that they get you but because that they throw attacks in all possible styles at the same time, forcing you into impossible situations (which is why you must be careful as to who you kill first). As challenge 5 take place on the boss arena of Celestial Caves (Elemental Dragon arena), the arena is quite large and has no walls. This is a double-edged fact ; if you fight close to the edges, you can insta-kill the Commanders but due to the "slippery" edges (on regular stages, the game "push" Spyro back if he's being knocked toward a bottomless pit), they can do so to you as well. I recommend you fight in the middle of the arena so you don't get cornered nor knocked off the stage (remember that almost all of the Commanders' attacks have a huge knock-back factor and thus, almost any hit from them near the edge is instant death).

Challenge 4 is the opposite ; the Concurrent style foes are easier... but there will be a real, constant FLOOD of foes ; there will be easily about 15-20 foes at once in the arena at once. Also, as this take place on a walled Concurrent Skies elevator, it means that you cannot knock foes off the stage for an instant kill ; on another hand, if they knock you into the walls, you will be shocked for a relatively large amount of damage. The action slow down near the end but although Dreadwings aren't as deadly as Buffalo Knights or Invisible Commanders, there's no bottomless pits to throw them into and they come into groups of 2-3 at the same time.

It sounds very hard on paper and well, the challenges ARE a relatively big step up from most regular game situations but if you could get through the main game's final stage, you shouldn't get stuck very long on them at all (although challenge 3 & 5 can pose problems and challenge 4 is quite hectic).

I haven't been able to get past the first dragon challenge for some reason. They just keep attacking me when I try to get away to get life. It's just so frustrating, so I just quit when I died all of those times.

I found it annoying when Spyro randomly switched elements!

yeah, but i just used dragon time until i was at electricity then did a tornado. and if you're still doing the electric torando when the element changes, and if you don't let go of triangle, you'll keep going and going until you switch back to electric. neat glitch, huh?

Quote: Zerodius

No ; you only get to fight Dark Ones (apes) during Challenge #4 and 5... well, mostly Dark Ones on Challenge #4 (Dreadwings appear).

As for the rings, the delayed rings alone are not that hard to dodge ; it's when they coupled with the multiple rings from the Malefor Commanders that they become deadly, which is why I say to kill the Munition Forge Commanders first ; the delayed rings alone are relatively easy to dodge (although a whole game of fighting foes using the multiple rings style might throw off your timing your first few attempts).

Challenge 5 has actually only one foe from each type on the arena at once ; it's not by sheer number that they get you but because that they throw attacks in all possible styles at the same time, forcing you into impossible situations (which is why you must be careful as to who you kill first). As challenge 5 take place on the boss arena of Celestial Caves (Elemental Dragon arena), the arena is quite large and has no walls. This is a double-edged fact ; if you fight close to the edges, you can insta-kill the Commanders but due to the "slippery" edges (on regular stages, the game "push" Spyro back if he's being knocked toward a bottomless pit), they can do so to you as well. I recommend you fight in the middle of the arena so you don't get cornered nor knocked off the stage (remember that almost all of the Commanders' attacks have a huge knock-back factor and thus, almost any hit from them near the edge is instant death).

Challenge 4 is the opposite ; the Concurrent style foes are easier... but there will be a real, constant FLOOD of foes ; there will be easily about 15-20 foes at once in the arena at once. Also, as this take place on a walled Concurrent Skies elevator, it means that you cannot knock foes off the stage for an instant kill ; on another hand, if they knock you into the walls, you will be shocked for a relatively large amount of damage. The action slow down near the end but although Dreadwings aren't as deadly as Buffalo Knights or Invisible Commanders, there's no bottomless pits to throw them into and they come into groups of 2-3 at the same time.

It sounds very hard on paper and well, the challenges ARE a relatively big step up from most regular game situations but if you could get through the main game's final stage, you shouldn't get stuck very long on them at all (although challenge 3 & 5 can pose problems and challenge 4 is quite hectic).

Yeah... I'll probably want to take out the Scavenger Commanders though... those energy totems will be a right pain in the neck if they throw them!

Yeah, the totems of the Scavenger Commanders are nasty... but take note that the totems affect ONLY Grunt-level foes ; Lieutenants and fellow Commanders will be unnaffected.

On another hand, it will affect all Grunts on the battlefield... including the Munitions Forge style ones. Due to their ANB attack patterns, the Munitions Forge Grunts are the most aggressive of the bunch and when they have enhanced stats from the totems, it will become EXTREMELY difficult to fend them off. One more reason to eliminate the Scavengers first!

Still, don't eliminate all Grunts before moving on to the Scavenger Commanders ; although a group of Lieutenants does not benefit from the totems, having Munitions Forge Lieutenants pelting you with dynamite while TEN Dragon Temple and Malefor Lieutenants melee you is NOT fun. I believe that it's better to face a few enhanced Grunts than having to deal with a mix of long-range and short-range attacks from multiple angles.

Quote: Zerodius

Yeah, the totems of the Scavenger Commanders are nasty... but take note that the totems affect ONLY Grunt-level foes ; Lieutenants and fellow Commanders will be unnaffected.

On another hand, it will affect all Grunts on the battlefield... including the Munitions Forge style ones. Due to their ANB attack patterns, the Munitions Forge Grunts are the most aggressive of the bunch and when they have enhanced stats from the totems, it will become EXTREMELY difficult to fend them off. One more reason to eliminate the Scavengers first!

Still, don't eliminate all Grunts before moving on to the Scavenger Commanders ; although a group of Lieutenants does not benefit from the totems, having Munitions Forge Lieutenants pelting you with dynamite while TEN Dragon Temple and Malefor Lieutenants melee you is NOT fun. I believe that it's better to face a few enhanced Grunts than having to deal with a mix of long-range and short-range attacks from multiple angles.

The thing is, the Air Melee combos almost ALWAYS smack the bombs back at their throwers. That's how I beat Skabb only hitting him 9 times or so!

BTW, I just made a Boss Guide... since I was getting annoyed by everyone asking about beating [insert person].

Read your boss guide. Mostly a good one although it's a bit short at moments (but then, I'm a maniac so maybe it's not a factor, considering).

Maybe I should make a guide for the Dragon Challenges some time... although I don't know if it's a good idea. Sure, they ARE tough but since the main game's final stage is so hard already, most players have the skills to beat the Dragon Challenges by the time they unlock them.

Still, might do it some time...

Yeah... but I beat every boss in less than five tries.

The one I died the most on was Gaul... three times. The first one was he knocked me in the bottomless pit (bastard), the second, he got me with his jump attack (I pressed that Dragon Time button! Stupid Wiimote!), and the third was solely because I got a phone call, and when I paused the game, my friend un-paused it and made Spyro jump in the bottomless pit (he was jealous that I was about to beat the game in half the time the took him alone). >.<

All in all... six and half hours... give or take. Not that hard, especially because of the Air Melee/Comet Dash, Electric Spin, or Earth Bomb combos could deplete half a health meter of even one of those Buffalo Knights. And the force of the Earth Bombs were mighty enough to knock even the Fortress Commanders and their cloaking devices in the air.

That... and there were so many foes in Malefor that if I didn't have a fury... it was because I'd just used it!

I see. Quite a better time than mine (11 hours) but then, I'm an old-fasihoned gamer and almost never used Dragon Time and beaten bosses using melee attacks whenever possible. It's also due to the fact that I took my sweet time, making sure to explore every nook and cranny. Also took the time to pause once in a while just to watch my surroundings or experiment with the foes' patterns in some areas (for exemple, in stage 1, just when you enter the temple, after the first hole (the one where three Dark Ones fall through in a cutscene), if you stay at the very edge, the Dark Ones will run up to you... but won't attack. They will just stand there, looking you in the face, taunting you once in a while. That came off as funny to me).

... and ironically, although I took a long time, I died very few times and found a lot of stuff (even though it was my first game). The most deaths I had was during platforming sequences (namely, the giant jellyfish sequence in Ancient Grove).

The bosses were somewhat disappointing ; they're more or less as tough as those from ANB. The only thing that makes them truly harder is that the game doesn't save in-between health layers. To me, none of the bosses were as hard as Steam from ANB was (but then, Steam is a real bastard). The hardest boss for me was Gaul 2... since I fought him at close range rather long range.

Gaul 2 is surprisingly hard in short range ; he actually fight like a Dark Grunt right down to the speed... except that he's MUCH larger (and thus has longer range) and do a lot more damage. Many of his attacks have extra effects too (such as his double ground pound causing a small earthquake).

Still, only lost once to him.

Beaten the Dragon Challenges yet? If so, what's your thoughts about them?

Edit: I don't understand why you thought Dragon Challenge #5 was difficult, Zerodius. And I don't get how you thought that the ANB Commanders still used their delayed waves... because in my game, they didn't.

# 5 was a matter of determining the proper order to destroy the leaders/commanders. The first ones to go were the pirates, because they were the most aggressive. The second was the Munitions Forge ones. Their Commanders kept backing up into corners, allowing me to knock them in the air and they fell off the platform. Third were the raid guys, because they were easiest. I saved Malefor for last. Why? The leaders didn't attack, they kept throwing bombs (and missing), then teleporting away to some other spot, making them anything but a threat. <.<

Strange. In my game, the ANB Commanders in both Challenge #4 and #5 used the delayed waves.

But then, maybe TEN has several versions like ANB does (in the ANB sub-forum, there's complaints about the Gamecube version of ANB only saving the game proper at the beginning of each stage. In the version I own, it saves properly at the save points).

What I know is that in the version I got, the ANB Commanders use delayed waves like they do in ANB rather than the new TEN multiple waves.

The Malefor Lieutenants acted differently in my version as well ; they did teleport and throw ice bombs once in a while but it was the ANB Lieutenants that kept backing out and throwing dynamite most of the time ; the Malefor ones were mostly after me the whole time, using their teleportation powers whenever I got too far from them to catch up.

Also, realized why the ANB Lieutenants' dynamite is more dangerous than the TEN ice bombs ; the ANB dynamite has a MUCH larger blast radius than the ice bombs. You can be almost half a screen away from the center of the dynamite's explosion and still be hurt whenever the ice bombs only hurt you if you're almost at the center of the explosion.

Still, congratulations. Good to know you didn't have difficulties.

Not quite... I died twice on Challenge #4. >.>;

Still... those Warthog/Dingo dudes looked awesome in ANB skins! ^.^

Strange. Myself, I found Challenge #4 easier than #5... but then, I'm very good at crowd control (got a lot of pratice from doing no-death runs in ANB, which require good crowd control skills if you are to clear Concurrent Skies without dying). But then, I mostly fight from the ground rather than from the air as it allow to strike more foes at once ; I found pretty early that foes tend to stack up around you while you perform air combos and then go nuts when you land while you cannot defend yourself. Guess that my fighting style was more effective than yours in Challenge #4 but less in Challenge #5.

Oh and, yes, the attack dog things look awesome in Concurrent Skies skins.

And that also means you now have the ability to turn Spyro into Dark Master Spyro at will (both main game and Dragon Challenges)!

... which makes me think of a single complaint regarding the Dragon Challenges...

It doesn't evaluate your performance let alone record your best times! Trying to beat best scores/best times in the Dragon Challenges would have been quite fun!

... and I'm still disappointed that unlike the GBA TEN version, there is no unlockable Hard mode nor is there a Limited Lives (Arcade) mode like in the DS ANB version.

Oh well. The game is still excellent and challenging!

In terms of evaluating performance... the second dragon challenge lets you do that.

Otherwise... grab a stopwatch... that's what Cedric (my friend with the PS2 version) did! <.<

What is the convexity breath everyone is talking about????

The Convexity Breath is the most popular name used by people for the darkness-elemental breath that Spyro uses during the final battles of ANB and TEN. It's called as such since it was first introduced during the final battle against Beserk Cynder in ANB, who is fought at Convexity, ANB's final stage.

As for the breath itself, it's incredibly powerful and unless you use cheats in ANB or fulfill special conditions in TEN, you only and only get to use it against the final boss of each game... and for a good reason ; it's positively overpowered and tear through absolutely every enemy, bosses included, that has the misfortune of being hit in seconds.

Yes... it is overpowered... but that's why it's an unlockable as opposed to a cheat. And you have to beat the game... which is not the easiest game in the world... and then the five Dragon Challenges. All in all... an average person would have to put in 10 or more hours of solid gaming for such an unlockable. Not to brag, but the challenged took me about a half an hour to do... and that was including the one time I died on the third and fourth challenges. <.<

Do you think we should put two heads together and make a two-man guide for the Dragon Challenges, Zerodius. The thought just randomly popped in my head. <.<;

Well, that would be a nice idea... although it would be better to discuss it via some kind of instant messaging (in short... do you have MSN?).

Quote: Zerodius

Well, that would be a nice idea... although it would be better to discuss it via some kind of instant messaging (in short... do you have MSN?).

MSN Messenger?

Yes... I'm HIR on it. <.<

Actually, your username alone is useless ; it's the email address used in conjunction with that username that I can use to add to my list. In short, what is the address that you use for MSN?

Oh and by the way... the email address specified in your profile is obviously wrong ; added "darkgta@gmail.com" ages ago and the username was not updated to "HIR" and I never received a message about you getting online.

NOTE: the address that I use, myself, is "zerophex@hotmail.com" by the way...

Oh... my email....

I'm gr8swmr@optonline.net (yes, it's weird, but I made it when I was 9).

Hang on... I don't often use MSN/Windows Messenger. <.<

when i first defeated gaul, i found a glitch, which really helped cuz when i got to the lower floor, he kept pushin me off the edge w/ tha laser. ;P