The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

Zekira Drake · Oct 24, 2007 3:56 AM

Z Â· The Dragon Challenges is a special feature that is unlocked after you have finished the game.

There are 5 (? Not sure if there are more) challenges available immediately after you finish the game. These can be accessed through the Extras menu, and by loading your Completed game.

The 5 challenges have different properties, including the input of some enemies that have never been fought inside the normal TEN storyline. I'll explain each one. Oh BTW, you cannot proceed to the next challenges until you can finish the latest that you have.

(I dunno if you can classify this as spoiler...)

Challenge 1
In-Game Note: Spyro will occassionally change elements. Defeat all enemies.
Arena: The dragon temple at night time
The arena is similiar to the training room found in A New Beginning, only that it is night time. The enemies will be the typical apes and pirates, only the small and medium ones though. You will be hoarded in numbers. What you should take note is that you keep switching elements and you can't control it. But here's the case -- all elements have their use, so use it wisely. Oh, remember that you have DT, so use it, it's a big help for all the challenges. In general, this will be easy.
The pattern of the element change is randomly chosen, but the pattern remains constant for the entire challenge. For example, I start out with Ice, then Fire, then Earth, then Electric. It will then follow that the pattern for the entire current challenge wll then be Ice-Fire-Earth-Electric-Ice-Fire-Earth-etc. But the next time I restart, I then get Fire-Earth-Electric-Ice, so the entire challenge will then be Fire-Earth-Electric-Ice-Fire-Earth-etc.
A LITTLE SPOILER:

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Challenge finish animation: Ignitus will appear in the center of the room

Challenge 2
In-Game Note: Defeat all enemies within the time limit
Arena: Pirates' colosseum
You have 5 minutes to eliminate all enemies that come by. Once again a lot of pirates and apes will hoard you, but remember that you can now control your element. As much as possible do NOT use DT. The last enemy you encounter should be that crab from before (I forgot the name!). IF EVER YOU ARE USING THE PS2 VERSION, DO NOT HIT THE CRAB WITH ANY ELECTRIC ATTACKS BECAUSE THERE IS SOME SORT OF GLITCH THAT KEEPS THEM FLYING UP WHEN TRYING TO TAIL STRIKE THEM.
A little Spoiler:

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Challenge Finish Animation: Mole-Yair and the other Manweersmalls will appear from one gate

Challenge 3
In-Game Note: Defeat all Enemies!
Arena: Under the Ape King's lair
Oh look, no handicap! Think it's easy? Think again, large enemies will start appearing from time to time. Reserve your fury for them ESPECIALLY THE ICE FURY, since the aftermath effect of Ice Fury will allow you to regen your Magic Power without Green gems for a considerable amount of time, and also your attacks will be imbued with Ice, allowing you to freeze your enemies upon impact, and frozen enemies = 0 defense. The monster from A New Beginning called the Dreadwings will start appearing in this challenge, and can pose a threat if you don't know how to deal with them (they have insanely large defense and attack, not considering that they have a ranged attack too). The large enemies will be the invisible ones, so keep an eye out. Remember that large enemies send shockwaves through the floor and plant Totems.
A little Spoiler:

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Challenge Finish Animation: The camera will pan up to the top of the room.

Challenge 4
In-Game Note: Dragon time is banned for this battle.
Arena: Inside Cynder's Fortress (ANB), at the lowest floor in the very high elevator.
Feel the ANB-ness of the arena? Well, look again -- your enemies will be the enemies from Cynder's Fortress from ANB! Dreadwings will also appear sometime later, but this time in numbers, ALONGSIDE A FEW LARGE ENEMIES. This battle will be difficult considering the very small space. The no-DT part wouldn't be much of a problem if it wasn't this many apes in such a small space, since you forget to use it anyway, but you WILL need it at some time here... gah. Reserve your fury and use it wisely, I recommend Ice or Earth for this one, since the Earth Fury can reach the entire battle arena, and Ice for obvious reasons. Abuse your Electric and Ice powers.
A little Spoiler:

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Challenge Finish Animation: The camera will pan to the top floors.

Challenge 5
In-Game Note: Defeat all Enemies to win.
Arena: The Trial of Braveness
Here's a surprising note: all kinds of enemies will appear to you, from the infested Apes, Pirates, and even the ANB version Apes! No handicap, whew, BECAUSE IF THERE WOULD YOU'D BE SWEATING YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS ONE -- there will be too many enemies to handle, and later you'll be faced with 4 simoltaneous large apes if you don't kill them properly. Dreadwings will still appear in this one, max I've seen is three dreadwings at a time. Be careful not to fall off, this is even smaller than the arena for Skabb 2.
A little Spoiler:

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Challenge Finish Animation: The Chronicler will appear in the middle of the arena.

Oh, what do I get for finishing these?

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Some tips on using elements wisely:
Fire
Breath -- a level 1 Fire Blast is ordinary, but the level 2 and level 3 fire blasts have a little and good modification; occassionally when blasting, fireballs come out and home at the nearest target. The magic consumption is insanely low, be sure to abuse it.
Comet Dash -- a 3 hit lethal dash that could stun enemies. The advantage of this Comet Dash is that you can cancel it immediately into a combo, making this a very powerful tool 1on1. Dash, combo, dash, combo, dash. DEAD.
Fury -- not sure about the bonuses. I think you get added power? All I see is that your attacks will be imbued with Fire for a short period of time, but other than that, I see no significant aftermath effect. Maybe it is power.

Ice
Bomb -- This is the replacement for ANB's Fire Bomb, but this time with added slow and freeze effect, which is very useful. If you have upgraded this max, you'll see the true worth of it. Very good for crowd controlling, and at level 3 this leaves a fog of cold wind which slows any unit entering it. Spam the field with this and you can ignore using DT.
Tail -- In case of emergency, you can use this to quickly freeze any surrounding enemy and slow them down to the slowest speed. This is used when you get too mobbed. Other than that, don't waste your magic on this one.
Fury -- Your magic power will keep on regenerating for a short period of time after casting your fury, making you able to abuse other things. Your attacks will be imbued with Ice element, which will freeze enemies on contact. Frozen enemies = 0 Defense. Hitting a Frozen enemy will keep them frozen until the ice element is left with you.

Earth
Flail -- This move will not have its max worth without a perfect Spin Tail. After reducing defense through the freeze, Flail everyone around and see them splash and get insane damage. That's all.
Slam -- Very useful again after Spin Tail. Also, this reaches until the ends of the room.
Fury -- not sure about this one, but it seems to be the most powerful fury. Attacks will be imbued with Earth element which can stun any enemy (?). Can someone confirm me on this one?

Electric
Ball -- WHEN FULLY UPGRADED, THIS IS THE REPLACEMENT FOR ANB'S EARTH BOMB. This tool is so powerful. In crowds, just double press Square and KABOOM. Even in single fights! You can use this to devastate enemies while maintaining a safe battle position! This is probably the easiest to use with the Square button.
Spin -- this is very useful too since it has insanely large power and can launch enemies up in the air. Small enemies and off guard enemies fly up in the air very high. It consumes a lot of magic, but is very powerful.
Fury -- Not sure about this one, but it seems like your attacks won't have any delay AKA increased speed. Your attacks are imbued with Electricity, which will launch up all units on the ground into the air with any attack.

And I can't forget

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Razz · Oct 25, 2007 2:21 AM

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Zekira Drake · Oct 25, 2007 2:56 PM

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DUD · Oct 25, 2007 10:01 PM

[spoil]Hey Zekira! I was just wandering if the Dark Spyro thing is just for the challenges or if you can use it in your complete game save as well.[/spoiler]

Also I wonder if you would think someone who completed the story game having found only two Health Relics (found my first one only after the Arena battles, grrr) would have a lot of trouble with the Dragon Challenges (I'm fully upgraded now BTW).

Zekira Drake · Oct 27, 2007 8:41 AM

You forgot to put the 'er'! Edit that!

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Hm, 2 health relics... I'm not sure. I can't gauge your ability so I wouldn't know. I finished my game with nothing collected except scribers.

DUD · Oct 29, 2007 9:40 PM

Wow! I thought I had it bad, but you missed them on purpose didn't you? Anyway, I beat the challenges without too much trouble. I had to retry the fourth and fifth one three or four times, though.

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sleva10 · Oct 29, 2007 10:42 PM

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Zekira Drake · Oct 30, 2007 2:09 AM

DUD wrote:

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My final solution to the Fifth challenge: Fire breath on the light weights with hit and run melee. Some fire and much Comet Dash against the middle weights with somewhat more focused melee and intermittant ice bombs. Quick bursts of earth flail against single targets on the heavy weights with focused melee and intermittant ice bombs and kept myself in midair as much as possible whenever they started to spam ground slams. I never used a fury though I could have.

That wasn't necessarily a spoiler...

Anyway, don't tell me you didn't abuse the Electric Ball? (I came in here with a level 3 Electric Element, so...)

DUD · Nov 01, 2007 1:00 AM

Yah, don't know why I put that under spoiler. Anyway, no I didn't use Electric at all, not on any one of the challenges except for the first because one really has no choice if they don't want to get overwhelmed. I'm actually best suited to Lvl 3 Fire combined with Lvl 3 Ice.

#1 Oct 24, 2007 3:56 AM

The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#2 Oct 25, 2007 2:21 AM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#3 Oct 25, 2007 2:56 PM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#4 Oct 25, 2007 10:01 PM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#5 Oct 27, 2007 8:41 AM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#6 Oct 29, 2007 9:40 PM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#7 Oct 29, 2007 10:42 PM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#8 Oct 30, 2007 2:09 AM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

#9 Nov 01, 2007 1:00 AM

Re: The Dragon Challenges (in case you haven't seen it)

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