Area: Cave 3, De Rol Le
Area Clear Time: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
S-Rank Target Time: 45 Minutes
Character Requirements: None

General Tips


Bestiary


Area 14

Note that the Force can go Tech-spam crazy in the first few rooms if desired, as there is a Healing Ring very early on in this area. Don't bother to kill the Traps in the first room, simply run around them by hugging the wall on the right. In the second room, take the door on the right, not the left. In the fourth room one player (preferably the Ranger, if he's a Droid) should clear the Traps in the hallway and grab the pink switch to open the door to the next room while the other players wait. This will cause more enemies to spawn, ignore them and move on. Once you clear the enemies in the next room, you're at the first splitting point. The Force and one Hunter should take the right side as there is a Healing Ring. You can clear the puzzle in the following way:


At this point, I must take a moment to point out an alternate way to solve this puzzle. There is a possibility to use glitches to clear this puzzle, which I will explain.

One can use the Version 1 walk through walls bug to step backwards through the stompers rather than having players wait on the buttons to keep the stompers raised. Whether this is legit is up for debate, personally since I have a great deal of respect for the skills of the Japanese players at Challenge mode, I basically consider a legit Challenge strategy what they consider a legit Challenge strategy. As Sonaten once told me, "Glitch abuse is key to fast times." (Perhaps not an exact quote.) Anyway the point being, apparently some (many?) Time Attack players condone the use of this trick to speed up their runs. Take that for what it's worth to you, personally I both condone and use this strategy to speed up the stages where it can be used. I will not explain how to use the glitch here, but if you wish to use the trick to speed up this puzzle, you can do so in the following way:


Using the trick allows you to bypass much of the waiting around necessary if you wish to walk past the stompers normally, just make sure you organize so that the males (or females, if they are skilled at using the trick) are the ones who have to do the backwalking.

Whether you use the trick or not, after both teams take the warps labeled 3 they will end up in the side room next to the first room of the stage. Hit the green switch to open the door, and then walk into the second room, this time taking the left door instead of the right. Take the left side in the U shaped room, as all the laser fences should be deactivated and you should have a clear path. Anyone with a gun should stand on the light switch in the center of the third to last room and shoot the enemies to allow the players without guns to see what they are attacking. Move to the next area.

Area 15

Follow the map to the U room, don't bother with the boxes. One player should stand on the button to let the Force through the door. Take the warp on the left (marked 1 on the map) to appear behind the rocks in the U room. Press the switch to blow up the rocks and let the other players though to warp to the next area. Once the Force hits the switch he should run back through the fake wall and get the boxes before warping to the next area.

Area 16

After the second room the Force should go into the side room and activate the timer switch while the other players make their way to the left side of the U room. Once the timer is activated the Force will have barely enough time to make it past the door and join the rest of the party before the time expires and the door closes, so make sure you cut the corners close but don't get stuck on anything as you most certainly will not make it in time if you do.

In the second room after the U room hit the left button marked green on the map to open the door and then clear the next room. Take warp 1 to be transported into the next room, which contains laser fences in the center making it difficult to move around as well as being dark with no light switch. Clear the room and move on to the next area.

Area 17

Ignore the boxes in the first room and proceed to the fourth which contains the massive laser fence puzzle. While the diagram may make it look extremely complex, this puzzle is actually quite simple as long as everyone pays attention and moves at the proper times. It should be solved in this way:

  1. One player should step on button 1 to open fence 1. Only one player should cross the fence and stand on button 2.
  2. The group of three players should move past fence 2 into the cage and step on button 3.
  3. The solo player should move past fence 3 and step on button 4.
  4. The group of three players should move past fence 4 and step on button 5.
  5. The solo player should move past fence 5 and step on button 6.
  6. The group of three players should move past fence 6, out of the puzzle, and step on button 7.
  7. The solo player should move past fence 7, out of the puzzle, and step on button 8.
  8. The group of three players should move past fence 8, rejoining the solo player. Now everyone can move out of the puzzle room and take warp 1.

This puzzle takes very little time to complete as long as everyone is paying attention and coordinated, but if people don't move at the proper times and get stuck in various parts of the puzzle then it can take a long time to clear. Therefore, pay attention and don't waste time on this. ;)

After warping, all players will be sent into a dark room with nothing in it but enemies. As soon as the players enter the room, someone should make sure they find the correct path as noted on the map. The correct path is through a fake wall, so make sure you locate it. (If you have trouble getting oriented try to find the wall right off the bat and step inside just enough to make the area map extend for part of the hallway, then it's easy to see where the fake wall is after the enemies are clear.) Once the enemies are clear, three players should proceed past the fake wall to a row of stompers while the fourth proceeds through the door and activates the timer switch. This will raise all but the center stomper in the row of stompers, allowing the group of three to pass through. The timer does not keep the stompers raised long enough for the fourth player to run past them, so one person (preferably the Force) should wait on the yellow button to raise the center stomper until the person who got the timer switch (preferably the Ranger) has time to run past it. Then the Force and Ranger can move to the next area, where the two Hunters should already be killing things.

Area 18

In the second room it's required to split into two groups of two again and kill things separately. The group that wishes to take the right path must step on the yellow button, allowing the two players who wish to take the left path to get past the fence and step on the orange button, which will let the other two players enter the right path. Once everyone is past the fences they can proceed on their respective sides. The players on the left side must merely clear the enemies and activate the pink switch to make it through the door and begin killing things in the long room. The players who took the right path must first hit the far right button in the first room, then proceed through the next and take the left path in the U shaped room. They should then collect the items from the boxes in the circular room, hit the cyan switch to open the door, and join the other group in killing things in the long room.

The long room is separated by a laser fence, the players who took the right path should step on the green button to open the other side of the cage for the players who took the left path to enter it. They can then hit the switch in the center of the cage to open the door and unlock the other side of the cage so the players who took the right path can join them in the final room before the boss.

Note that the room prior to the boss sometimes opens before all the enemies have been defeated, keep an eye on the door and if it opens before everything is dead alert your teammates and ignore the remaining enemies and proceed to the boss room.

Prior to entering the warp make sure all teammates have enough Mates to survive, as with Stage 1 try to take as little time doing this as possible, if you have more Mates than you think you'll need drop your extras for people to take, or call out the number of Mates you have. Drop any unnecessary items for other players to check if you wish, but remember the clock is still ticking, don't waste too much time getting ready, but also don't rush in unprepared and get yourself killed because you didn't want to spend time asking for Mates. ;)

Area 19
BOSS FIGHT: De Rol Le

Both Hunters should equip their best Swords and if not all Grinders have been used yet all of them should be used on the best Sword the team has. The Force should make sure to cast Shifta on all party members just prior to De Rol Le landing on the raft to maximize damage against him. When De Rol Le fires five bombs onto the raft, all party members should pick and kill one that's in the corner (all party members need to attack the same bomb so as to kill it before the bombs detonate) and then huddle together in that corner to avoid the blasts from the other bombs when they detonate. When De Rol Le fires three bombs that encircle a single player, the other players should move away to avoid getting hit as it's not likely all three bombs can be destroyed before they detonate, and the rest of the team will just get hurt unnecessarily if they try to destroy the bombs.

When De Rol Le lands on the raft, both Hunters should use their Swords to attack De Rol Le's body, not his head. The Ranger and Force can attack the head if desired, but knocking off his mask is not necessary. Once De Rol Le has started to target someone with his tentacles, that player should move far away from the rest of the team attacking De Rol Le so as to not let them get hit by a mis-targetted tentacle. The targetted player should be able to attack De Rol Le a little bit, but he will need to move around just before the tentacle strikes to avoid getting hit. Before the first tentacle strikes you won't know who is going to get hit, so all players should try to space out and move around somewhat to avoid getting hit themselves or having their teammates attacked by a mis-targetted tentacle. Just keep in mind the more you try to dodge the tentacles the less damage you're doing to De Rol Le... It's probably advisable for the Hunters to assume they aren't going to get hit and just attack him until you see who is going to be hit, at that point the unlucky player can juggle attacking De Rol Le with avoiding the tentacles and ensuring his teammates don't get hit.

When De Rol Le is floating by the raft you can try to shoot him, but you're not likely to do a whole lot of damage. When he decides it's time to drop debris on the raft all players should huddle in the corners of the raft to hopefully avoid getting hit, the corner on the right closest to De Rol Le is the most popular, but not guaranteed to be safe. You can watch the shadows of the falling rocks to try to avoid them, but it's unlikely you'll be quick enough to escape getting hit.

When the lights go out and De Rol Le prepares to use his purple laser beam attack, all players must move to the middle of the raft and hug the wall opposite De Rol Le to avoid getting hit by the blasts. This spot is marked on the map. Do not move from this spot until you are sure he has completed his laser volley, or you may get hit, and possibly 1 hit KOed. You must be physically touching the wall or you are not safe! Once De Rol Le goes down, Stage 4 and Cave are behind you!