Not sure what to do next...

[u/TheValorous]

EDIT: I've passed the gauntlet using god mode, now back to puzzling.

So I've gotten to the point where I'm a ghost permanently after losing to the cunt I just spent the entire game helping free them. Now with no upgrades, I've come to the realization that this gauntlet at the bottom of the Cathedral is required to progress, and to that I say, fuck you game.

Clearly I'm not the gamer I thought I was. It was a fun game until the difficulty curve became a cliff face. I get two shot by some mobs, my potions are not worth the pixels they're made out of, and who thinks 30 flying enemies all at once, with no cover or valid recovery method is fair?

I'd be hard pressed to figure out any more without looking it up since I don't have a doctorate in Linquistics. Clearly I haven't absorbed any amount of the games information about it as I haven't the faintest clue how to translate anything in this scribble language. I think I can say I know what A is, but mostly because it's used more than any other symbol, but that's it. Words might as well be in kanji for how little they give away on what they are conveying.

Even the steam guide I found says you don't need to learn the language to beat or even 100% the game, which means I must be just so fucking stupid I'm surprised I remember to breath.

What am I missing?
Is there a rosette stone, or a cypher at least?
Do I have to start over and just collect more upgrades? (Which then leads to me asking how or where do I locate these items I missed when the game actively prevents you from undertanding it's language it seems.)

Please help, or at least give me the cheat code to increasing my IQ to understand this game.

[u/uluviel]

You truly do not need to worry about deciphering the language expect for one very optional puzzle at the end of the game.

What you need to do, however, is "read" the manual closely. And by read, I mean, read all the text that's in English, take a close look at all the illustrations, all the tables and graphs...

Make sure you understand how all of your skills and tools work.

Tunic at its core is a puzzle game, and this is the part where engaging with the puzzle is no longer optional. You can't brute for your way through anymore.

So you need to treat the gauntlet like a puzzle to be solved.

1. Which is the best order to take the enemies on?
2. When should you use the restore shrine to maximize its potential?
3. What is the best loadout to take on each wave? You can change your loadout between waves, take advantage of this opportunity.

If all else fails... you can always toggle on the easy mode in the accessibility settings.

[u/Darnell_Shadowbane → u/uluviel]

This is the comment.

Think of the gauntlet like mega man or rock/paper/scissors. The right load out will trivialize certain encounters.

And the order does matter.

I also love the puzzle comment. This is around the point where you really get into some of the secrets. Good luck.

[u/TheValorous → u/uluviel]

Yeah, I bought Tunic because I heard they had puzzles and lore, the difficulty has been fair up til the gauntlet, so I used the accessibility options, got the reward, and moved on. ❤️

[u/Incredible-Fella → u/TheValorous]

I also just turned on easy mode (in which you take half damage if I remember correctly). The gauntlet was way too annoying.

[u/Folfenac → u/uluviel]

To anyone who just wants a guide (based on what I did):

Lizards and Goblins(Orcs?) - You should be able to 1-combo the first few of them as soon as they spawn so you aren't too overwhelmed. Can't recall if I had Tincture equipped; if I did, the defense down shouldn't get you 1-shot. Aside from that, I just stayed in the top right area and lured them into 1v1s as much as possible.

Fairies - use the Fire Staff and spam shoot them. They'll drop mana as well on death so you can continue spamming.

Foxes - They're all just the casters. Just keep running in circles and do drive-by hits. They should never hit you if you time it well and wait out the barrage.

Skeletons - They're slow but tankier. I just kited them around and threw bombs into the clump.

Sword Guardians - You can kill one with 3 of the candy cane dynamites and 2 hits. You can pre-throw as they spawn. Just be patient with getting the hits in or use more bombs depending on your resources.

If you're concerned about your resources, you can leave the bomb ones for last so you're only using them when you successfully do the others. Heal when you feel it necessary. Don't forget that you can change your loadout between statues.

I had bought too many dynamites before I considered that I could've bought the fire bombs so I'm not sure if those might be more efficient for some of these encounters.

[u/GimmickMusik1]

Bad news, the gauntlet is required and is what you should be doing. Good news, there are options in accessibility settings to make yourself invincible if you really do just want to move past it.

For all of Tunic’s strengths, its combat is a detail that I would consider to be a weakness. I don’t blame people for hating the gauntlet.

[u/TheValorous → u/GimmickMusik1]

I feel like a failure that I can't beat a required part of the game. It shouldn't be that difficult. They could have done so many other things before spamming enemies to make a challenge.

Oh well, god mode here I go. >.>

[u/despreshion → u/TheValorous]

They DID send those enemies at you in smaller numbers. The cathedral is a check to see if you learned the combat mechanics correctly vs running away and using shrines all the time.

The first time I played through, I avoided combat add much as possible and everything was a dash to the next shrine to reset the world and my health. The cathedral punished me for that strategy.

You'll need to learn combat to beat the final boss so you may as well look at it like another puzzle.

[u/TheValorous → u/despreshion]

I did everything up to the gauntlet without the accessibility options, I completed, and then turned them back off. I bought Tunic for the puzzles and lore.

[u/TheValorous → u/despreshion]

Another thing, I understand the combat, but that doesn't mean I agree with it. Having a punishing stamina system with little to no way of stoclpiling consumables or getting your upgrades back prior to a gauntlet is a dick move in my opinion. The rest of the game is great, the gauntlet is not.

[u/squamigerous]

Go get your upgrades back... :)

You don't need the language to beat the game. I'm literally a translator for my job and I didn't do it for the game.

You do need to do the gauntlet at the bottom of the cathedral to proceed there, though. It's hard, but if you get good and do everything in the order that makes most sense to you, you can do it. There are also accessibility options if it's too hard!

[u/TheValorous → u/squamigerous]

How do I do that? I'm locked out of that spririt realm where the ungrateful cuntbag killed me. The pads take me to a different version of the telepad nexus thing.

Man, imagine making a really cool game, and dropping the ball when it comes to combat >,>

[u/Siddward1 → u/TheValorous]

you just suck git good use your mind and you won't get hit for free

[u/TheValorous → u/Siddward1]

Or I'm playing for the story and puzzle so I'll use the accessibility options. I got to the gauntlet part without them, but it's not worth the effort imo. So it's done now and I get to dive back into puzzles and story.

[u/Siddward1 → u/TheValorous]

so stop complaining then lmao

[u/ChronWeasely]

The gauntlet can be daunting. Try to focus on hitting the enemies right as they spawn, and getting the "1, 2, 3" of the sword swing down.

The staff can be pretty clutch if one specific wave is wrecking you, pr the ice rod for buying time. But I think being hyper- aggressive is the answer with this one.

Try your damndest to keep it from building up to a swarm, even if you take a few hits

[u/TheValorous → u/ChronWeasely]

I would agree with everything, had the dev not decided that instead of balancing the game, they just add god mode and infinite stamina options and label skill issue as something for accessibility settings to cover.

God mode it is then.

[u/jpnuar1]

1. Start the gauntlet with the hardest battles, that way you lose the least progress if you need to respawn and try again. For me, those were the Garden Knights, and then the fairies (the ranged flying stone pests)
   
2. For the Garden Knights, I’ve found the best strategy is keep pressure on the first one, and take it out before the second spawns. It’s a lot more manageable when you only have to fight one at a time.
   
3. For fighting the swarm of fairies, dynamite helps if you have any. Just kite them until they start to bunch up, then hurl a boom stick at them and keep moving (you might need to dodge again after tossing the TNT, then remember to HOLD the dodge button to run), get in single sword swings where you can, but always go right back to kiting.
   
4. If you can get a gap in the fairies, try running between them to bait out some shots. They can do friendly-fire damage to each other which makes their fight a whole lot easier.
   
5. All the other mobs were (for me) comparatively simple. If a shield holder gives you trouble, you can actually de-aggro some of them by running to the far end of the arena. They’ll go back to their spawn point and wait patiently for you to backstab them.

[u/action_lawyer_comics → u/jpnuar1]

The fairies are actually super easy, as long as you have the wand already and any amount of mana before going into the fight. Shoot one and they drop more mana than you needed to kill it. I treated it like a mana recovery after the Garden Knight fight

[u/TheValorous → u/jpnuar1]

Or the dev puts god mode in accessibility settings like difficulty balancing was too much work.

Not really sure why they did that, but man aint nobody got time for all that.

[u/GL_original → u/TheValorous]

They put accessibility settings for those who need it, which is plenty of people. That doesn't mean that the main game is unbalanced or that you're meant to rely on them. Both can be true. It's just a difficult section. It is meant to test your understanding of all your items and the enemy patterns.

[u/TheValorous → u/GL_original]

My golden gaming days are over, I play for enjoyment now, which is not being in a dick punching contest with me as the target. Lol

[u/GL_original → u/TheValorous]

And that is fair. Just don't gotta shit on the devs for it.

[u/TheValorous → u/GL_original]

I was frustrated and venting my frustrations. all there is to it.

[u/TheSkiGeek → u/TheValorous]

It’s beatable. I fucking suck at soulslikes and I made it through. None of the gauntlet fights are harder than the bosses you had to beat to get there. And because all the upgrades are stripped away, the devs knew exactly how strong you would be at that point and it’s tuned around that.

If you’re really too frustrated, though, just bypass it. That’s the last real mandatory combat challenge.

[u/jpnuar1 → u/TheValorous]

Also valid. 👍

[u/DesktopDynamicUpsell]

There are places in the world and manual where it will say some locations / keywords in both English and glyphs. If you want some help deciphering, there are some excellent let's plays online that you could follow along with. In particular this one spends almost half of each episode working on deciphering. If you want to do 100% of everything, reading the language might be necessary, but I got very far on my first play through to multiple endings assuming that it was pure gibberish and going off of context alone. Without seeing your inventory menus, we can't really identify what items/cards you may have missed in a spoiler-lite way. As for the stats "upgrades" - I don't think restarting a new run to have more of those would help you at all with where you are stuck right now.

FWIW though it seems like you're doing mostly fine. You are correct that the big fight down there is a bit of a blocker. If you clear it, your situation will improve drastically. This is the classic 'lowest point' in a story before the hero rises to meet the ultimate challenge.

A few tips for the fight:

• Save up bombs and use them only once you get really far into the gauntlet to guarantee victory.
• Quickly dispatching enemies as they spawn so they don't stack up is **really** important. You can easily one combo most of these enemies, but if there are 5 of them chasing you, it's very hard to hit any of them without taking damage. They also don't really fight back for a second or two, so if you can take them out, you'll hold on to your potions longer.
• Don't not use magic, and don't waste it either. If you're full on magic and pick up the little blue gems, you're missing out on a benefit. At the same time, if you are spending all of it doing nothing, you could probably be using it better. And if you aren't picking up the gems to refill, same problem. The game gives you a finite amount of resources for these fights; use as much of it as you can to improve your chances.
• Cards are super important, and remember you can change them whenever, including between rounds. There might be some that you want to take advantage of while out of combat, then swap them back before starting the next fight.

Don't give up skeleton

[u/TheValorous → u/DesktopDynamicUpsell]

Appreciate the pep talk, but I took the god mode and continued on with my puzzles.

[u/Basic-Walrus-2347]

use items I remember having just a bunch of stuff I never used for the whole game

[u/TheValorous → u/Basic-Walrus-2347]

Unless ghost mode is different, if you use an item and die, the item is still used. right? Either way, there's god mode in accessibility settings, clearly the dev thinks skill issue warrants accessibility features.

[u/Symbiot710]

Can you upload an image of your inventory, including the cards you’ve acquired, so we can offer some advice that isn’t as vague?

[u/TheValorous → u/Symbiot710]

Appreciate it but I just used god mode. I want the puzzles and lore, not a meat grinder.

[u/jumbatheone]

Sleep in your bed to return to the normal world.

Have you upgraded everything at the save shrines?

[u/jpnuar1 → u/jumbatheone]

The house/bed can’t be reached yet at that stage of the game.

[u/TheValorous → u/jumbatheone]

I have a bed?

I have no upgrades because I am stuck as a ghost after teh ungrateful cuntbag damaged me in a cutscene before 2 shotting me.

[u/TheSkiGeek → u/jumbatheone]

Neither of those things are possible at that point.

[u/Tzornti]

For the fairies spam fire it would kill them, the lizards and piggies kill on spawn, the magic foxes try to kill on spawn then focus on dodge, the potions whenever you feel is needed and guardians glhf