Well, I have pretty clear memories of TFOME in DQOld, and I can safely say that it is a LOT easier now in DQDX. I redid it using my exact old setup (swapping Book of Blood for something new) and was able to do the whole thing at 4x or faster (with the occasional pause) and won about 10 waves earlier than normal. DQDX is a lot easier than DQOld. So TWOE was difficult, but only insofar as it is challenging to get the monstrosities to all die at roughly the same time. Other than that, the right strategy made everything fairly easy. (people trying it and failing, please do not feel that I am insulting you - I came within a hair’s breadth of beating TWOE in DQOld twice, and those attempts were agonizing and precise and nearly flawless… when I say that it was “fairly easy,” I am comparing to a VERY difficult “hard”)
DQDX Quest for Hero Mode 100% [Finished!]
Endless 2
I actually got this on my second try, and the first try I wasn’t using an optimized setup. Once you know how to do it, this level is more annoying than hard.
Setup
Make sure you are running on the lowest resolution with all the video options turned off (0% particles, no numbers, etc). The improved speed is important!
Ketta: Use the cold bow and maximize the bleed skill. Ketta’s main purpose is to slow down and place damage amplifiers on the spawns.
Niru: max bite, epic halitosis, nom, and roar. Everything else is irrelevant
Wrenna: You should use your standard Wrenna build (max the boost 4 and 5 skills, use beast’s weapon, assign the rest of the points however you like)
Strategy
Place all your people either near the entrance or on the track at the bottom left. Put Niru adjacent to Wrenna, and turn off all his skills except roar and bite (I guess you can use claw, but its DPS is so pathetic I don’t bother).
For the first 40 levels, things just die. For the next 20 levels, a few things sneak past unless you use spells, but it’s still REALLY easy. For levels 60-80, you will want to start moving Wrenna and Niru around to kill the worm spawns (from when the monstrosities die). Starting around level 80 (when the monstrosities from level 75 die), it’s probably best to move your whole team around to kill the worms… just make sure you are back to your standard kill-zone for when the next monstrosities come around.
The Mad Ghouls that spawn from the Cultists are annoying, because they can attack, and by the end of this level, they hit REALLY hard. Spam lightning on them and replace people they kill. If you are worried about psi, just move your people to stay out of melee range of the Mad Ghouls.
Niru with max nom can insta-kill an enemy with 18% life left. There are times when it’s a good idea to just put a 1-boost Niru where all the enemies are and watch them die. Her roar is also outstanding, especially when you place her near Wrenna.
Just Challenge 5 left. Although, I don’t know when I’ll be able to get to it!!
Challenge 5
If the “New Game” version of DQ had a motto, it would be “Ketta destroys all in a hail of arrows!” If New Game+ had a motto, it would be “Wrenna destroys all in a blizzard of destruction!” (Wrenna enjoys destruction, and does not mind using such a marvelous word twice in the same sentence).
Understanding this extremely un-subtle point is half of the strategy in Challenge 5 - If there is a threat, move Wrenna to the threat and destroy it.
The other half is knowing what the threats are: Cultists, Cultist Priests, Abominations, Monstrosities, the blue Monstrosities that spawn serpents, the things that look like armored monstrosities, shell worms, things that phase, and everything after wave 37 (really, that’s all!)
The third half (it’s a hard level, and therefore permitted a third half) is knowing to take care of threats in the center two lanes first, then threats on the left, and lastly threats on the right.
Oh, and moving Markos around to help with Cultists and Cultist Priests is a good idea.
Make sure Wrenna has the Beast’s Weapon and Strength of Wolocon, and make sure Ketta has the bow with the light effect. Seriously, just don’t be afraid of moving Wrenna and you will win in one of your first tries. Oh, and remember to cast your spells - especially lightning on phasing enemies. You aren’t saving them for anything!
So you ARE using Beast’s Weapon+. That is bugged and deals waaasay more damage than it should.
oh, well that explains why it has been so easy! The triple damage against worms is pretty much required for a few levels, as otherwise the worms that spawn from monstrosities would be unstoppable. Maybe I’ll redo some of the hard levels when the bug is fixed. I don’t think that there were any changes that would affect The Way Out, so under the normal rules, I am just missing TGKWA and Endless 2, as everything else I completed in a previous game of DQOld
Six-and-a-half years later and I haven’t actually checked back in on this. Was the bug with Beast’s Weapon+ ever fixed? If so, I think I’ll go back and do TGKWAE and Endless2 in hero mode just to satisfy the completionist in me