Tales of Xillia 2: Rideaux 2 & His Gun Groupies [Unknown/Auto Only]

What might surprise you is the AI actually beat this first try. But since Judelius went down during that take and I NEED every level I can get on the Victor Squad, I saved in another slot and reloaded. And yeahhh that 1 try became 7 tries. Might post the 1st take too since the first is kinda interesting, albeit a bit longer as I was still figuring out the best setup. Unlessideleteditagain.
Onto Rideaux, he took notes on what curbed Spambot Rowen a few videos ago and brought the best backup with him: ladies (and dudes) with guns. And with his long ass reach, it's a recipe for disaster as the horde stops you from getting any combos on Rideaux, but Rideaux can easily wipe the team out if he's not kept busy. Thus until the Agents go down, there is NO room for the AI to breathe. It's do-or-die.
One pattern I noticed here is Rideaux consistently went for Judelius except for THIS take which he went for Milla. My theory is he's inclined to attack whoever is furthest back on the strategy menu since Judelius WAS until this take. Could be coincidence though. Laurel Crowns as usual on the boys cause Rideaux rains Bleed down like its snow on Christmas Day with Milla sporting either a Faerie or Risk Ring depending on whether she's liable to get hit (AKA when guns aren't flying and Rideaux's not in-range).
I'm actually surprised I didn't need cameo weapons on both successful takes. The ones I wimped out were hilariously the ones that all died. Guess the game wanted me to play fair or not at all. Will give the AI some credit, we traded retakes for a nicer finish. Maybe a LITTLE haxxor since the MA shaved through quite a bit of HP, but eh it looks cool plus they DID get the weakness combo up pretty high so the MA does that much damage. I'll give them a pass.
...And now, after we do Gaius' and Rowen's episodes, we can't delay the boss you've probably been waiting for. Lord Falling Snow, please bless me, I've been your faithful servant!!!
BGM: Over the Top - Fate/EXTRA C.C.C.
Challenge Rules:
1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto
2. No broken Skills [I.E. no Grounded Stance/Recall/Reversals]
3. Items are forbidden when possible [You'llknowtheexceptions]
4. Only required battles will be fought
5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.

[@frubam]

Guess the AI isn't as dumb as I thought, as long as the cards line up correctly. I thought it'd go downhill around the 3:00 mark, where everyone got grouped up and he started doing his surround attacks when you had no TP, but they pulled through. I'm so glad I don't worry about this fight; it looks like an absolute pain, even from an full party Auto perspective(even though you got on the 1st and 7th try, finding the right flow I can see being difficult). I guess that's where your experience comes into play =03.
That ending was pretty crazy D0=! Probably shaved a good minute off the run and it was a cool finisher too =03.

[@Kikaromi]

This take got pretty lucky with Rideaux wanting to use Dancing Bayonet as his finisher (1:21 is a perfect example) more often than not. Most failed runs lasted at MOST 90 seconds thanks to Rideaux bullying one person (usually Judelius) while the Agents pinned the others. Either that or the Agents join in and anyone not named Ludger (Last Stand helps him hold out) won't survive. Things MOSTLY calm down once they're gone, but Rideaux's wide attack range is still pretty scary since everyone here is at risk of getting hit when healing whoever's low. Rideaux's range is 100% why unlike my usual M.O., I let everyone but Ludger use their heal arte since Ludger's our damage sponge.
But yee with tailored artesets and using the strategy menu to its fullest, the AI's only three unfixable flaws is they rarely use backstep or sidestep if they're not set on Protect Yourself (they do use guard though), they don't use above PC1, and everyone sans Leia likes to stay grounded even when they've got some aerial-enabled artes. Everything else is mainly up to learning how everyone behaves (like how unless set to Protect Yourself, the AI ALWAYS tries to heal anyone below 33% HP unless all heal artes are off). I'm glad I can make 'em look like a decently oiled machine. www
I am a proud mom seeing Ludger use the Linked Mystic Arte to roast Rideaux. Makes me glad we died at least once as you can't turn on Milla M's Special/Linked Special without hitting retry first. Anything to save us from Rideaux deciding last second Judelius deserves 0 XP again. But I guess it's very in-character for him lol