Hanako Games

Chive Mind strategies

#1 by Lunacy - Jun 22 2009

What strategies did everyone use for beating the Chive Mind boss? I lost Andrea, which isn't too bad, because I didn't use her very often. I've been trying to use Big Bang and Better Slingshot to kill all the Grex at once, and once or twice I've tried starting Exponential Explosion and hoping I can get it strong enough to win. So far, though, I haven't been able to kill them fast enough, mostly because I run out of SP or someone dies faster than I can heal.

I haven't tried actually using buffs yet, that was going to be my next strategy when I had the time to play again. I'm playing the older version with only one single difficulty setting, but it never gave me any problems up until now. Any hints, tips, suggestions?

#2 by Spiky Caterpillar - Jun 22 2009

You're on the right track (I'm not sure if it's beatable without buffing, really). Resist the temptation to start in on EE right away - you want Egg Cages on Heather and Jennifer at least. (And also Affirmation, but that's not quite as critical.) And it doesn't hurt to debuff GrexAndrea.

Also, one of your powers is a lot more effective against enslaved-Andrea than against purely alien monsters...

#3 by Indalecio - Jun 22 2009

I lost Nicole I think. She was also my highest leveled character. Is that random?

Anyway. You should use Egg Cage and Affirmation on everyone. Most if not all the Grexs have around 220 HP. I don't know if it makes difference whether or not you take out the Grex with the captured girl first, but I took her out last. There's a stat-down that the lead character has, (which I can't remember what the name of the technique), which slightly discolors the enemy its used on. This is useful for keeping tracking which enemy your currently targeting, as I found it useful to take them out one at a time.

Maybe one more thing to consider. What level are you? Most of my characters were at level 13, when I fought the Chive Mind.

#4 by Lunacy - Jun 22 2009

My main character is level 12, and I think Nicole is too, while most of everyone else is level 11. I think one person might still be level 10. Possibly Andrea.

I actually tried taking out the one holding Andrea first, and then it does something that heals it by a bit and increases its max hp. What does that do, exactly? I thought at first that it might be stealing hp from the other Grexes (Grexii?), but I didn't feel like wasting the SP to check them before/after it used that move.

I could probably grind a bit more, I actually thought I was a bit stronger than I should have been. So I wasn't really concerned about fighting everyone, I was just cruising through everything.

#5 by hanako - Jun 22 2009

The primary pod will steal health from the other pods if you damage it enough, yes.

Someone said they beat the fight using just a leveled-up Big Bang a couple of times. That takes a lot of SP, though, and is probably difficult if you haven't been lucky with your food item collection.

The character chosen to be kidnapped is based on the dialog choices you've made earlier, so it's not totally random.

Also, what the caterpillar was hinting at:

Using psychoanalysis on the captured character will allow her to briefly fight the Chive Mind's control, so that she can do something useful for the party. What the useful effect is varies by captured character.

#6 by Lunacy - Jun 22 2009

I tried that, actually, because I was thinking that if it was using mind control, Psycho-analysis would probably do something useful, and if I remember right I think it poisoned all the other Grex... I didn't make the connection at the time, though. It's just too bad Psycho-analysis is only for the front row, because you don't get as many opportunities to use it.

Does the Chive Mind Grex have SP like your characters do? Because I've seen it try repeatedly to Grenade me and Stink Bomb me, but it always says 'Not enough SP' and then uses a normal attack against me.

#7 by Spiky Caterpillar - Jun 30 2009

Yes, it has SP (a few other monsters do as well, but it's not directly exposed for them.)

#8 by darkbalmunk - Jul 26 2009

easiest way to wipe chive mind was using big bang lvl 2 and have the 2 other ones focus on using healing items for party or heal. as well as have a lvl 5 finisher beat on the chive mind.

Chive Mind

#9 by dixonm - Jul 27 2009

I was playing at Graduate level, and I only lost the battle once before beating it. My mistake the first time was in being profligate with the food from the cafeteria before the final battle. Make sure to visit the cafeteria and the nurse's station on your way up to the Chive Mind, and make sure to Defend yourself to maximum SP before you enter the battle.

That said, my strategy was to nickel-and-dime the Chive Mind to death, and it worked quite well. Heather hit them every round with Better Slingshot and Andrea hit them every round with Grenade. Meantime, I tagged them one at a time with Self-Doubt to minimize their attacks on us. Once I'd Self-Doubted everyone I started Psycho-Analyzing.

Can't Level Up Anymore! D:

#10 by rjsec4ever - Aug 9 2009

Well, I'm stuck, as my party cannot level up anymore, as it is saved at the "click-before-boss-initiation" part, i.e. during the dialogue. I cannot go back!!! D: All my consumables are used up, and with no BESTIARY, I don't know what to do!

#11 by hanako - Aug 9 2009

The game does make a handful of autosaves (which you can find in the savegame list by scrolling way down past the normal save slots) so you MIGHT be able to find an automatic save from a bit earlier, if you haven't managed to wipe them all out by opening and closing the game in frustration.

(It's a good idea to use multiple save slots just in case something goes wrong!)

#12 by FantasiaWHT - Aug 13 2009

Not too hard! Long, but hard.

Main, Jennifer, and Nicole were level 14 (but I lost Nicole, noooooooo!) while Andrea, Missy and Heather were down around 11-12.

Had the main character and Heather put egg cage + affirmation on everyone while Andrea poisoned everything. By the time everyone was buffed up, I could start using finishers because the poison had done its work.

Gonna play again on graduate level. Now I know better what skills not to waste level up points on!

#13 by bugmenot - Aug 18 2009

It took Nicole for me. I wasn't aware it could take any other characters until I read it here. I imagine that if Nicole was still in my party, it would have been a much easier battle.

Anyway, I didn't have full status when I entered the battle, but it was close enough anyway. My party was on level 12, which the exception of the main girl who was 13. I had some very close calls due to Nicole's specials being used against me which caused a few of the girls to reach 0.

I probably wouldn't have made it if I didn't have the Pizza and Cake in my inventory which came for the cafeteria I think.

Due to the monsters constantly regrouping, I ended up using specials that would damage all the monsters at once. When this wasn't an option, I would try to attack the monster with the lowest ID. Since this happened very little, I don't think it mattered much to the final outcome of the battle.

I didn't use any defensive specials on my girls (nor for the former of the game). One of the first attacks was a Self-Doubt on the monster holding Nicole. I also did a few Psycho-Analyzing on it too, but I didn't noticed the effect it has until I read it in this thread.

Anyway, great game. Awaiting a squeal.

#14 by potterhead12496 - Mar 6 2010

it took missy from me .. i'm so happy that it don't took jennifer or nicole..
i don't use missy much.. andrea 's grenade and finisher works either..
on heather.. using ballista is awesome too..
psycho-analysis,hamstring,big bang.
good luck !!