Kid Icarus: Uprising -- #5. Chapter 4: The Reaper's Line of Sight

Ew! What are these... pixels... blown way out of proportion, depicting 3D images presented in a mere two dimensions, with no sorcery to enact a field of depth, as the varied and whimsical gods intended?!

I think you should complain about it, both in the comments below and on every available means of targeted communication!

---

It's a bit of a tough choice, but my weapon selection is pretty bare and low-quality for now, so it's more or less hoping that I'm not going to be seriously disadvantaged by a specific weapon type's particular drawbacks. (Don't worry, it'll happen eventually!)

This time, we'll take Claws for a spin. Honestly, you might assume that they're mostly for melee combat, and they DO have the strongest and most robust close-range attacks... but most of them aren't all that bad at a distance either. Low-damage, but LOTS of attacks, and many boast a range you wouldn't expect. Don't expect much homing assistance, though... rapid fire is mostly point-and-shoot and charge shots are usually built to emphasize speed at the expense of all else, though every weapon family will have some weirdos here and there.

---

Now that we have a few more Powers to mess around with, the grid is a bit more puzzle-y. That said, you can reasonably live without most of them. The one you've seen me rely on the most is Health Recovery, because pushing the Intensity further than you probably should might stretch your reserves and the food you find on the floor to the point that Pit might need a little pick-me-up now and again.

You might have noticed the fact that Powers come in multiple levels, generally increasing their effectiveness or number of uses, but you're still restricted to ONE of a specific effect on the grid.

For now, probably best to just pick the ones you like and make sure they stick on the grid while Palutena offers some "ideas" on what else will fit.

---

I'm still really indecisive about how far is too far for the Intensity slider, especially since my weapons aren't especially good... but that's the fastest way to get better ones!

Also I'm super paranoid about Intensity Gates at this point, but I figure that's a personal problem that I'm going to have to get over the game already having it out for wanting me to miss out anyway.

---

Chapter 4
The Reaper's Line of Sight

Remember Reapers from the original Kid Icarus? ...nope! Nobody played that game!

Remember Reapers from Smash Run? ...nope! Only weirdos loved Smash Run. (Y-yeah... *sniff*... I'm... I'm a weirdo.)

Well, anyway, Reapers are a big deal in Kid Icarus! They take over the music! They run at you like crazy! They summon other enemies! They do a ton of damage! Now they're... laser-guided? Uh, I mean, their line of sight is represented by a harsh-looking laser beam!

Uh..."HOT"? Is Pit being metaphorical, or are these lasers like... actual lasers?

---

Anyway, apparently Reapers are of both unsound moral fiber AND sanity... but are also functional psychopomps in the cosmology of the world in which Kid Icarus games take place. Also all souls go to the Underworld anyway, I guess? ...man, sucks to be a human. Pfft, who needs 'em?

I like how the interface treats Reaper sight lines as an attack, turning an edge of the screen bright orange if you're near enough to one and not making direct visual contact with both it AND its source.

Now... generally speaking, picking a fight with an optional enemy like this is both dangerous and immensely greedy. Masahiro Sakurai's a big fan of high-value targets that want to use you for a chew toy AND are generally just rewarding enough to goad players into taking the unsafe route anyway. The point is that it's YOUR fault, not his!

I'm not going to go on at length about the original context of Eggplant Wizards, but they're way worse than here. Probably the worst enemies in that game. (If only there were another concurrent upload series in the works for that!)

Oh, hey! A trap room! Multiple layers of traps! Obvious pit. Several nasty ways for Pit to fall into the pit. Schmuck bait killer enemy. Highly missable special reward. Evil stage design all around! Yay! My least favorite bit is how some parts of certain stages require mobility-based Powers to navigate.

One other note about evil level design: one-way transitions. Never follow the arrow first! That's the trap left to lead you astray, no matter how one-way the alternate paths look! Sky Jump won't help!

---

BOSS: GREAT REAPER

Wait, that's it? No epithet and selective capitalization that I've seen fit to recreate in these descriptions? (The first couple being fixed after the fact.)

I mean, what's so great about this guy anyway? He's a chump! He's got giant glowing weak points and some of the most telegraphed moves we've ever seen, not even in THIS game, which is a bit on the fast side when it comes to its action... step it up, O Great One!

Poor guy. Er, I mean the reaper, right? Sure. That's what I meant.

[Overhazard]

"Getting hot" and "trap rooms"? Is there something about Pit I don't know about?

Also, "grind rails, " huh? They really cut to the chase with that, not calling it any fancy Greek mythology stuff.

Say, it feels like Palutena's voice is a bit higher-pitched than she currently is in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

[strategist]

Neat to see how they've updated an old enemy...shame the boss for this stage is kinda forgettable. But when every stage has a boss, some have to be lacking I guess...