Malicious

[J0e Musashi]

MALICIOUS is a great game from what of it I have played. It is VERY difficult, but it seems that practice makes perfect. There are five stages and you can tackle them in any order you want. Currently only available from the Japanese PSN. Anybody who has played an import title before will be right at home as there is minimal text, and most of it is in English.

Anybody else playing this? I'm no writer, so I've mainly just started this thread so the few of us that own it can talk tactics or whatever.

So far I am finding Triumphal Square very easy to complete. You can basically just float behind the boss's head and punch him to death.

Abandoned Library is also quite doable, but is time consuming. It's hard to get to close to the boss, so I have been using a shoot and dodge tactic to take him down, with the occasional hundred hand punch when he falls.

Escort Of Queendom is where I currently am. I figured out that you need to de-shield the boss before you can harm him pretty quickly. I've been hitting him with the drill lance from the air, which seems to be doing quite a god job. He has massive health though, and in the second part of the fight he takes to the air so it's bolt and dodge.

Foughten Field I find almost impossible. There are too many standard enemies and the boss seems invincible to me.

I have only tried Forbidden Floor once, but the boss is very tough. I'm thinking I shall come back later when I have every attack at my disposal.

[saturn-gamer]

The one everyone considers to be the first boss is the Library one, I found him to be really easy to beat. Its just a fist fight with occasional blocks. You'll receive the Lance, which helps a lot.

Foughten field is easy. Its the first level I have beaten but I've restarted since. You need to take out the 'balconies' on the boss of foughten field. They don't lock on but you can jump on them (which means the Escort of Queendom reward works great on him), kill the goons and mash the metal supports. When all of them are done, the boss has pathetic health left. Only catch is his blue aura shield that you somehow need to bring down (by constantly attacking) and then finish him off. He's even easier with the Lance. The shield reward is in turn very handy on the Escort boss minigun barrage.

The flying Queendom boss isn't that hard as well, use punch combos (the combo from the Triumphal square works even better) on his back and Lancer the **** out of his shield. When he goes flying around the stage hes annoying due to the lock on etc.

I can't beat Forbidden floor yet. But the catch is that bosses get harder if you save them for last. So technically, save the Triumphal Square boss for last. But that means you don't get the punch combo to tackle the Escort of Queendom... etc.

I still have to master the dash move (block + LS), I've seen videos of people using it constantly and it keeps them safe.

[J0e Musashi]

Triumphal Square should definitely be tackled last if the difficulty ramps up then. There is a definite up and down side to taking on any stage, as you may not get the weapon you need if you leave one until later. I'm thinking that the hundred hand would be useful against the Foughten Field boss, but I'm not really wanting to take on the Forbidden Floor boss last based on what you said.

I might start again myself.

[saturn-gamer]

Perhaps its good to start with the Library, and then kill the chick with the Lance next (the Aura aerial triangle version does work on her).

I've first done the Library, then the Escort and am busy with the chick now. I don't use continues but rather restart.

[J0e Musashi]

I'm not using continues either, if only to get the silver trophy.

I've just worked out how to take down the Foughten Field boss. I'm gonna start again.

1. Abandoned Library
2. Forbidden Floor
3. Escort of Queendom
4. Foughten Field
5. Triumphal Square

That seems like a good order. I can probably live without the hundred hand punch.

Only thing I don't like about the dodge is that you have to move the left stick and press the block button at the same time. I would have preferred if you could have held down the block button and moved the stick to dodge.

Other than that I am really getting into it. Well worth 800 yen IMO.

[saturn-gamer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I_Ob3HELcY

This dude nails the dodge. And its also Free mode and has all weapons, which means he's beaten the game. Which also means all bosses are at their hardest difficulty.

This one kills the woman as first boss:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HuauxrFqmw&feature=related

And as you can see, using Aura on normal mobs is wise since it builds chain and chain = far more Aura in return.

[J0e Musashi]

I'm sticking with the order above, that way I get weapons to that are useful against the next boss I face.

I've just used a continue by accident against the Escort boss though. I was only one punch away from taking him out too. The no continue trophy is gong to have to wait methinks.

One other thing. How exactly is the L1 and X move used? You seem to be able to charge it up to one of three levels but then my aura just starts counting down and nothing actually happens.

[saturn-gamer]

Thats release mode I think. Probably some sort of auto power up until you stop it or your aura is drained.

But I got the hang of this game. Beat the chick by using my fists and lance. As my third boss. Dodge, dodge dodge! I mastered that. Makes you semi invincible. The Forbidden floor showdown is hands down one of the most intense fights I had in a game. Malicious is god damn awesome if you nail the gameplay.

Only use aura on mobs in big groups, hack a bit, dodge around, hack. chains will give massive aura. Far more than you'll spend if you mow down a group. Always heal, so its only 400 and takes little time.

So yeah, Fields and Triumphant left. No continue used. Was it 800 yen? Fricking steal.

[J0e Musashi]

I'm still experimenting with the release mode, although I can't see any benefit from using it.

I've started again due to my continue mistake, but I've only beaten the Library so far. I'm gonna tackle that angry chick next, looks to be around a 10-minute battle, more difficult than the Escort so I'm gonna hit her first. This game is awesome though, it gets better the more you learn to play it.

Dodge is very important, I've been practicing using it a lot on the Escort stage. Heal is 400 per body part, so 1600 if you are about to die. I generally wait until it's 800.

[saturn-gamer]

The lancer QTE gives you a dozen of free hits too. Another reason that the library should be first.

[fuse]

Quick question - how much is this? I believe I have 600Y still sat on my JP account and am hoping I can grab this...

[J0e Musashi]

800 Yen.

[saturn-gamer]

Foughten field sucks when he's among the last, he seems invincible during his second phase..... took me 28 mins haha. but I found the trick! Release!!!!

Build up aura from mobs and esp. killing the tanks combined with the goons give big scores. Go in release, do L1 punches on his face. Even with just one orb I took his blue shield down in no time. Might improve my crappy time now...

By the way, S,S,S punch combo and then press up to go shooting, S is an awesome combo vs groups.
You can also end with lance or sword.

Did Triumphant as last one. He's quite deadly during his second phase if you save him for last, but build 9999 during phase one, and then Release + Lance triangle + L1 makes short work of him. Watch his earthquake stomp though. A ranked that bitch, even got No Guard trophy. He also has a nice QTE if you did Forbidden Floor...

Last boss is hard but kind of figured him out now. Awesome music too. This is one of the GOTY contenders for sure. All we want is a classic rock hard challenge, right?

[saturn-gamer]

I beat the game, used continues on the last boss. Was sick of constantly retrying but I'm sure I can do it... I know the patterns now. It seems that you can 'perfect block' incoming attacks by pressing O at the last second which gains you good Aura... didn't know that...

Like, this game deserves a ****load o' buzz. And yet only 2 peeps are playing this here?

Its this years ****ing Demon's Souls. Yes thats right. Its just as phenomenal. For me up Malicious is up there with Vanquish and... err.. well its just one of my GOTY contenders.

I also want this soundtrack, its amazing.

[jimtendo]

Aye indeed, I love the aesthetics.
An amalgamation of Vagrant Story/ Shadow of the Collossus/ Ico/ Vaklyrie Chronicles.

Any tips on the last boss? As in wtf I'm meant to be doing? because I can't seem to figure out heads or tails how I'm meant to tackle him and his 1 hit death plasma ball.

Oh, and one more thing, when you go to load up your save game you're given two options. What do they mean? because I always picked the top one.