Best strategies for the following Avatar parts

[Thumpasaurus]

I'm sure I could come up with something for these, but I'd like to hear from those who have done these, what strategies you've used. Juicy tips welcome. Here's what I've got left on my plate:

Jester Armor - Exhaust your magic and still achieve victory.

Plate Mail - Pay 20 or more tolls. Achieve victory.

Captain's Clothes - Successfully invade enemy territory 20 times. Achieve victory.

Also, for Battle Axe and Aura Blade, does anyone know (with certainty) whether you can get the necessary victories in versus mode against story characters, or if you must actually get the victories in story mode?

Thanks!

[Thumpasaurus]

Okay, I went ahead and got the Jester Suit and Plate Mail. I just need the Captain's Clothes (and Battle Axe and Aura Blade). Captain's Clothes shouldn't be hard, but I'm sure it will be tedious...

I'll probably tackle this one with a lot of high STR monsters, along with offensive items, and +STR aid creatures, on a maneuverable map, with high win limit against Meltia. But if there are any particularly effective tips or specifics, or map/opponent advice that I should heed, let me know...

Also, if anyone knows about the axe and aura blade, it would be extremely helpful.

[Ben-Ra]

Jester Armor, Shogun Helm and Plate Mail, I faced Koenig on Santana to 30k, did absolutely nothing, let him have all lands, took him forever to level them up, he finally exhausted me, he had like 25k, I was pretty worried heh, but there's a reason I had 4 Drain Magic. My book basically had big easy to play creatures like Colossus and Tarasque, Armored Dragon, etc. Some living weapons so Colossus could use them, etc. If Koenig is playing the book STAR he has a pretty hard time beating anything bigger than 70/70. Once exhausted, I just started taking over his levelled up lands and draining him, went pretty quick.

[Thumpasaurus]

Thanks, but I already got Jester Armor and Plate Mail (and already had Shogun Helm). What I did was play on the large grid-like square-shaped map with lots of multiple routes (I forget the name), against Meltia (who is my go-to AI opponent, since she uses no spells). I used this map because I was able to circle back and forth and more easily maneuver myself into her creatures.

I was able to exhaust my magic pretty quickly (she was only around 2k at that point). After that I got a Kelpie w/reflection down near the bottom fort, at level 4--enough to do some damage, but not deplete her, so she'd still have creatures lying around (but not too high). Then I'd lap and conveniently land on her lower level territories regularly. It's pretty easy to control things on this board, so I'd say it's ideal. You can adjust your toll level by upping or lowering the Kelpie income (just switch to a higher or lower level land), and control which of your opponent's territories you land on.

[Thumpasaurus]

Okay, that took a while, but yeah I got the Captain's Clothes (using the strategy I said above). Actually this is called the Pirate Coat in the US version.

The ONLY ones I need now are:

Battle Axe

Aura Blade

So if anyone knows for sure if one or both of these can be done in versus against story characters, or if they MUST be done in story mode, please let me know. That's a lot of matches in story mode which I'd rather not have to do if I can set up quick and easy matches in versus.

Thanks.

[Thumpasaurus]

Sorry for so many posts, but there's not much activity here, and I figure I should update.

I can categorically say that versus wins do NOT count toward the Battle Axe. They must be earned in story mode. I'm guessing this is likely the case for the Aura Blade too, but if anyone with the US version knows for sure, please let me know, so I can proceed accordingly.

[Kuroi Kenshi]

Sorry, if I saw this sooner I could have helped a bit. Aura Blade and Battle Axe must be earned through Story Mode. If you search some of the older posts in the other threads Topcat and I give a bit of insight. Col. III is the best stage for this and I give my reasons in the post. If it's not still there I'll post it up my reasoning, or you can just do whatever works for you. You are correct, though, in story mode wins are the only viable option. I don't think that has changed from the Japanese version, but I have been wrong about a game coming stateside with changes.

[Thumpasaurus]

There have been some changes in the US version. Two that I know of are that you can set win limits as low as 1000 in the US, and based on Top Cat's accounts of strategy for certain achievements, there are some differences in the AI behavior routines.

I'd say it's 99% likely that the Aura Blade is the same way for the US version, but I figure that the 1000G limit was sort of break thrown to the players to cut down on the tedious tasks, so similarly, there's a chance they made a change for the tedious task of acquiring the Aura Blade.

I was just hoping for some certainty before spending 8-10 hours of rather tedious CPU abuse.

[Kuroi Kenshi]

The only other major change I'm aware of aside from the 1,000G Limit would be the addition of books allowed. In the Japanese version you are only allowed 10. As for the Aura Blade, have fun - most tedious part ever. Boring.

[Thumpasaurus]

Yeah, I'm already sick of beating up on the computer, just from getting the Battle Axe. 50 more matches is going to be painful. I'll probably have to spread it out over a couple of weeks. Damn my compulsive need to get that Achievement!

[Ben-Ra]

Man, I can barely get by with 16 book slots. 10 would be terrible.

[Kuroi Kenshi]

I couldn't agree more, Ben-Ra. I've deleted several books because of this fact.

[Thumpasaurus]

Okay, I finally got the Aura Blade, and I can now 100% confirm that all 100 of these wins must come in story mode in the US version.

[yamayamayaamaa]

Playing past stages after you beat the game in Load (story mode?) counts right?

Edit: Ok Well I just got my Battle axe in Load. What I was asking was if Load (at the title screen) is what story mode is. The answer is Yes.