【 Ys Origin 】 Boss 5: Shion (Nightmare Mode/Toal)

Boss 5: Shion the Incorruptible
Toal/Nightmare Mode
Playlist: • Ys Origin (Toal/Nightm...
Toal slips through the fiery floor without much confrontation, but his luck changes when he eventually runs into Feena. The Goddess, relieved about Toal's safety, silently understands the choice Toal made to take on demonic power. Knowing that the Pearl is with Reah instead, Toal offers Feena a chance to come willingly before Zava appears on the scene. She dismisses Toal and attempts to get Reah's whereabouts from Feena, getting the silent treatment in response.
Just then, Father Shion steps up to Feena's defense. Zava's curiosity of the acolyte gets confirmed by Toal: Shion's strength is on par with her own and second only to the Six Priests. Despite knowing this, Toal takes the chance of such a challenge and aims to punish the good Father for his humble bravado.
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Definitely one of Toal's harder bosses, one of the more fun ones, and probably the most ludicrous concept in having even Shion throw down. Don't let the smile fool you, though, Shion is no pushover.
Shion will keep himself shielded for the entire fight, filling the field with either falling pillars of lightning or 3 patterns of energy shots. In order to hurt the guy you'll first need to destroy his shield with Thunder Claw then wail away on him before he retreats to set up again.
For his first phase, he'll fire off energy in a W formation tracking you as you move. It should be said that his downtime is set, so even if you break his shield after he starts an attack then you'll be eating the brunt of it. His lightning offers the best opportunity to attack after the 8th strike, but his energy blasts are a bit trickier. They fire relentlessly and hit ridiculously hard like Galleon's arsenal, so I find it worth it to advance in between the lanes of the first pattern to attack him instead sticking to the outside and juggling the space needed to approach. He'll move it left and right to try and catch Toal's movement, but with enough swerving you should be able to get close enough to jump into a charged Thunder Claw. Waiting for his lightning attack is fine too, but striking when you can means having to endure less potential pattern-dodging in the long run.
After his health goes down a bit he will shoot his blasts more directly towards you. Running in a wide circle can dodge this, though it can be a bit more difficult to approach him if you're pressured into traveling away from him when you move.
The third phase is the most troublesome. He starts using a laser attack that must be dodged with jumps/Godspeed as he aims directly at you, so you have to be ready to switch skills and have enough MP to dodge 5 times. His pattern also becomes true danmaku, firing off a spread across the whole field. It can be dodged by inching forward after every shot, but the speed and power behind it can be quite intimidating. On top of that, he can also move from the edge of the field in this phase, meaning that he may be near the center of the field when he decides to start firing, making him even HARDER to dodge. You really don't want to be in this phase long, and thankfully the long cooldown after his shots lets you attack confidently.
With only a few hits to your name this battle becomes a balance of being safe and getting aggressive with Shion, as otherwise he'll snipe you down from his ivory tower in no time flat.
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Shion is soundly defeated, though Toal admits the saving grace of his demonic element. Ordered by Zava to strike him down, Toal is interrupted by the arrival of the search party. Zava and Toal retreat with Feena to Rado's Annex, where Dalles interrogates Feena on the whereabouts of the Pearl. Unable to give an answer, Feena is entrapped by a strong barrier much to Toal's chagrin. Dalles expresses the futility of breaking free, and Feena then pieces together the history the Darklings share with the "Ark".
The other Darklings resume their search, but Toal remarks on the curious history involved before making his leave. Feena stops him, managing to pass Reah's Silver Harmonic through the barrier and to Toal. She asks of him to return it to her sister, but Toal can only question how she can be so forthcoming after all of his betrayals. Feena seems aware of Toal's remaining concern for the Goddesses, though Toal denies it on his way out.
Just outside Kishgal mocks Toal's character and calls him out on his charade, enticing Toal to draw his weapons. The warrior leaves, however, more interested in what the demonic element will do to the Fact in the end.Toal too continues on his chosen path, returning to the search for Reah.
Game: Ys Origin
Release Date: 12/21/2006, 05/31/2012 (Steam)
System: PC (Steam)
Nightmare Mode
Recorded with Dxtory

[@Flegan777]

A darn shame even high priests in other RPGs aren't this powerful, but he's still helpless at close range like the job class tends to be. At least you can control where the lightning falls by egging it on until it stops.