SMT: Nocturne Hardtype - Troll (Low Level)
If he thinks that's sexy, wait til he meets Legion.
Rules:
This is a low level run of zombero's hardtype mod: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3299/
The aim is to keep XP gain as low as possible without affecting my sanity.
Hard mode, obviously
No stat boosting items
All other game mechanics are fair game!
Hardtype changes:
HP: 850 → 1800
Mind resistance increased to 70% (still considered a weakness)
Expel resistance and all other ailment resistances increased to 85%
Just 12 additional XP and we have everything we need to take on Matador. That took some precise planning. We need some very unlikely skill changes here - Anti-Force twice, and ideally Anti-Phys, but after hours of attempts I settled for Dekaja. More on that later.
Of the skills available at the moment, only Hama can change into Anti-Force with any consistency. But when I say 'available'... well, the only way to get it is to roll an Angel in a fusion accident. Fun! Toxic Sting should supposedly work, but it won't attempt an upgrade at all for me. I don't know if this is misinformation or just mod-related jank. It seems like skill change mechanics were messed with, possibly inadvertently since I can't find any forum discussion or explanation about this from zombero.
Anyway, after many hours of fusion and RNG nightmares, we're ready for Troll. There's not much to say about this battle. Although his resistance to ailments has been upped considerably, a sexy bumrush is still clearly the best strat. I try some Dark Might abuse here, and although it's been nerfed to 50% crit rate in hardtype, it's still pretty good.
This battle is where the final pieces of Matador prep come together. We learn Cadenza, Rakukaja, and upgrade one of the Anti-Forces to Void Force. After the hell of trying to get Media in the Specter fight, I was relieved when this upgrade happened on my first win :D