#death to chronos after I finish my shopping list come on I need like one more garlic

[skunkmage9]

Consistently reaching Chronos got whooped by Eris earlier and now I guess I’m just on a grind for reagents, psyche and ashes. Also gotta level up my keepsakes and fill out prophecies, the last boon of Hephaestus my beloved has me stumped. I’m essentially just focusing on anything but killing Chronos by maximizing the resources I can harvest per night.

And if anyone who reads this knows what combination of boons or whatever I need for the last check mark on Hephaestus’ prophecies sheet is, would you be ever so kind to share your knowledge? Thank you <3

[cat-medals]

Blinx: The Time Sweeper - S+ Rank Walkthrough (Round 6)

This is Mod Banana comin’ at ya with Round 6 of the S+ rank walkthrough!

I did some explanations of what this guide’s all about over on the Round 1 section, but for the sake of posterity, I’ll explain some things here too: this is a definitive list of all S+ rank times in Blinx: The Time Sweeper. If you wanna use this guide to get every S+ rank time in the game, I strongly suggest you go check out that list, as I’ve detailed some tips and tricks to getting S+ rank times there that I will be using to create this walkthrough!

Now, on with the show!

Round 6: Mine of Precious Moments

Preface: Yes, this Round is involved enough to warrant a preface. Welcome to the Mine of Precious Moments, my favourite round of the whole game! It may feel a little scary at first, being surrounded by instant-death bottomless pits most of the time, and having to ride minecarts that whisk you away at high speeds to unknown places, but I like the sense of adventure that comes with it, and the whole concept of a ‘floating digsite’ world is just really cool to me (plus it’s got like my third-favourite music in the whole game, with the number 2 spot being taken by Round 4). Anyway, the other reason you shouldn’t feel too pressured by Round 6 is that the time limits are, once again, rather generous by comparison to earlier stages. Like I said in the Round 5 guide, these shopping lists are practically just suggestions; as long as you have the necessary time controls to beat the stage, and you have the layout fresh in your mind, you can beat these levels with plenty of time to spare and 0 additional prep work.

The reason this Round is getting a preface before the actual level walkthroughs is because I’m recommending the TS-2000 Freeze for these first two levels - the first time I’m recommending an elemental sweeper. Back in Round 4, I didn’t feel it necessary to recommend the TS-2000 Flame to deal with the Water Dragons, as they only took 6 hits to dispatch, and there was always plenty of trash (or perhaps more accurately, plenty of bombs) lying around that could be used to plough through their health bars. This is not the case here in Round 6 however: a new enemy, the Fire Dragon, requires a whopping ten hits, just to break the illusion form. Its inner form, a smaller lizard just like that of the Water Dragon, also requires a shot from a single piece of trash to take it out. As such, it’s simply not feasible to recommend spike bullets in any quantity if you also have to take down Fire Dragons 1 HP at a time. Therefore, I’m instead recommending the TS-2000 Freeze so you can simply 2-shot any Fire Dragons you come across instead... of which there are only two in Round 6, but its still worth it just for those 2 instances.

...unless you don’t bring any spike bullets and just wing it with the trash available in the stage, because like I said in the first paragraph of this preface, this Round still has very generous time limits. Alternatively, just use the TS-X7 Ultimate sweeper and don’t even worry about the sweeper suggestions, lol. Anyway, onto the actual stage guide! –

Stage 1 - S+ rank time (4:30) My personal best: 2:19:23 YOU WILL NEED: 1 record, 1 slow, 1 pause, 4 spike bullets, TS-2000 Freeze

My personal best for this stage is 2:19:23, but with the TS-16000-S (Lv. 3) and no extra trash, it’s 4:19:50 - still well within the time limit for S+, just to prove it can be done with no extra prep or a special sweeper. Really, you could do any stage in this Round with any Lv. 2 sweeper.

Right away, in the very first part of 6-1, you’ll see why I recommend an elemental sweeper: your first Fire Dragon, right at the start of the level. Doing this with 4 spike bullets and no elemental advantage means sweeping up 6 trash, firing it at the target and the time monster, then stopping to sweep up another 6 trash and fire all of that at the time monster as well (and I’m not even sure if there’s enough garbage on the starting platform to pull that off, so you’d have to run along the track without hitting the target first to get some extra trash, drop down, hit the target, drop your remaining 1 damage junk on the Fire Dragon, then run all the way back to the start, sweep up more trash, then run all the way back again... not worth it). You can’t even use spike bullets - illusion forms of Water and Fire Dragons always take 1 damage, even from large trash, even from 16-ton weight (as I discovered while routing Round 7, much to my dismay).

That’s why I’m recommending the TS-2000 Freeze so highly. Start by leaping out of the gate and sweeping up three pieces of trash in front of you. Hit the target, break the Fire Dragon’s illusion, then hit its real body once it’s spawned and has stopped being invincible. Proceed, jumping off to the right towards the seesaw. If you go left there’s this whole platforming challenge involving rolling rocks and swinging axe traps, but there are no time monsters, so if you take this seesaw, you can just... skip it all. Go ahead and activate your record. We’re going to make use of record’s trash duplicating powers as well here: fire off three spike bullets where your realtime self can sweep them up, then wait until the very end of your record timer, jumping onto the seesaw before it runs out. Sweep up those three spike bullets back in real time, hop on the seesaw, then wait to be launched. Try to not land directly in front of the Guardoor, and focus on taking out the two Chrono Blobs and the Dust Herder first (suck up an extra piece of junk to get a third hit on that red Chrono Blob). Then once those are taken care of, coax the spirit out of the Guardoor. It should launch itself directly into some dustbins and get stuck, so take that opportunity to get an easy shot on it with a spike bullet before it floats out over the void and you have to rely on Blinx’s horrid auto-targeting to kill it. While it’s returning to the Guardoor to dismantle it, go ahead and suck up two pieces of small trash, then proceed up the steps behind the Guardoor.

Once you get to the top, immediately make a hairpin turn (if you do it fast enough you can avoid even activating the TomTom fight), and proceed to the bridge towards two more Chrono Blobs. Activate your slow as you step onto the bridge to prevent yourself from falling into the abyss, and use one of your pieces of small junk to score one hit on the red Chrono Blob. Ignore the other one for now and head to the right: there are two targets you’ll need to shoot. Put your second small piece of trash into one, and one of the handily provided bombs into the other (be careful not to get screwed by the auto-target again here; it really is your biggest enemy in this stage). Once you’re back to only having spike bullets in your sweeper, take the Chrono Blobs out with 2 of them. Suck up the remaining two rusty dustbins on this little strip of land and head back to the switch near the triple-stacked door. If you feel confident in your aiming, you can take the shot on the blue Octoballoon flying in the distance (it’ll make things a little easier in a later section), but if you don’t, just ignore it for now and step on the switch, then head through into the next area...

...which just so happens to be a room full of Octoballoons! There’s plenty of trash in here to take them out, but once you’ve done so you may notice that the door to the next area has not opened: there’s also a Molegon sneaking around in here, pretty easily missed in the fray of Octoballoon slaughter. There’s also a large barrel in here you’ll need to sweep up in here before moving on. Use either that or your spike bullet on the Molegon - it doesn’t matter which, so long as it dies, the door will open. Speaking of which: final stretch of the level, and it’s one of the few where a pause is useful in getting an S+ rank! If you didn’t take that trickshot on the Octoballoon before entering this area, you’ll want to sweep up a small piece of trash now so you can kill it when it comes up in just a little bit. Head out of the door onto the first conveyor, and make your way to the end. Hit your pause as you jump to the conveyors below: you’ll soon see that freezing time means not having to deal with a stream of dynamite barrels coming from behind you as you walk over moving ground. The Octoballoon will be floating ahead of the first line of conveyors if you didn’t already kill it. Once you have, hop off to the right to take out the green Dust Herder, and as normal time resumes, run past and jump into the goal gate!

Stage 2 - S+ rank time (6:20) My personal best: 2:19:03 YOU WILL NEED: 1 spike bullet - 1 super bomb - 2 spike bullets (in order of firing), TS-2000 Freeze

In a stage with a more generous time limit, I finish a fifth of a second faster. That’s Blinx for you. Also, yeah: no time controls. There are, I suppose, a couple of places where you could fit in a slow or a fast-forward, but they’re really not necessary.

This stage introduces Mine of Precious Moments’ most interesting mechanic: minecart riding. Begin by jumping up the steps to the minecart. Ride it to the other side of the chasm, and kill one Chrono Blob with your spike bullet. Sweep up the broken car to your left, and use it to kill the other Chrono Blob. Suck up the two gears near the switch, then step on said switch to open the door. This is one of those doors that closes after a set time rather than remaining open, so you could use a slow to give yourself more time to get through... except you don’t need to. Once the door is fully opened and no longer moving, you have more than enough time to head on through before it closes. Use one gear to hit the red Chrono Blob beyond the door, and one to hit the Dust Herder sat just to the left. While the Chrono Blob is recoiling, sweep up the large log, then hit it with the log once it gets back up to take it out. Head to the right, up the ramps, and sweep up a rusty dustbin at the top, then get ready for your second minecart ride.

This time you’ll need to hit a target while moving, just beyond the U-turn the cart makes. Once you’ve done so and your minecart rounds the bend, you’ll see a pit full of blue Octoballoons, so go ahead and fire off your super bomb. You want a super bomb really more for its huge blast radius than the 2 damage it does, to try and take out all 5 Octoballoons at once (yes, 5!). If any survive, there is some small trash down in the pit to help you out. Be sure to save one to hit the target on your third minecart ride just beyond the door out of this pit - it’ll be on your left almost as soon as you start moving. One short ride later, you’ll arrive in a new area with a Fire Dragon and a Dust Herder. Sweep up a rusty dustbin on your way in, and use it to break the Fire Dragon’s illusion, then sweep up two more bins and finish off the Fire Dragon and the Dust Herder too. Just up ahead you’ll see a Guardoor: the floor leading up to it will fall away if you stand on it too long, but you can just jump your way across and you’ll be fine. Once the spirit it out in the open, fire a spike bullet at it to defeat the Guardoor, then head on up the steps behind it, sweeping up the large log as you go.

At the top of the steps you’ll see a bomb target, and three bombs placed right next to you for your convenience. One wonders as to what the point of this puzzle even is. Well anyway, lower the bridge, and unleash your remaining two pieces of trash on the Molegon and the red Chrono Blob. While the latter is recoiling, sweep up two more pieces of small junk from this platform, then take out the Chrono Blob once it wakes back up. Head on up the floaty cloud blocks (here is where you could use a fast-forward if you happen to find yourself waiting ages for the blocks to descend far enough for you to jump on), then traverse them to the platform with the final Dust Herder and the goal gate. I don’t think you need me to tell you how to end this stage!

Stage 3 - S+ rank time (4:30) My personal best: 2:04:50 YOU WILL NEED: 2 records, 1 rewind, 3 spike bullets, a Tier 2 (or higher) sweeper

The final stage of Round 6... actually has no Fire Dragon to necessitate the use of an elemental sweeper. That may seem a little anticlimactic, but the stage more than makes up for it with its minecart shenanigans. Speaking of which: as soon as you start the stage, you’ll want to jump into the minecart to the right of the start gate. Ride it on down the rails, then jump out at the last second to land on a platform with the first two time monsters. Right before you hit the ground, activate your first record, hit the red Chrono Blob and the Dust Herder with a spike bullet each, then head for the little detached island to the right that holds a switch and press it down. When normal time resumes, head to the left and suck up two pieces of trash. Once the Chrono Blob stops recoiling from its first hit, pop it in the back of the head to take it out (it’ll still be locked onto your recording remember) and step on the nearby switch. Once both doors are fully opened, head on through, suck up two more pieces of trash, and hop into the minecart.

Remember when shooting at time monsters from a minecart that it works best if you’re very close to the time monster before firing: use this knowledge to take out a blue Octoballoon as you ride the rails, then hit the target that’s coming up around the corner, moving the track below to a route that won’t send you sailing off the edge of the level. Shoot the second Octoballon as you come up to it, and then as you round the next corner into a collection of time monsters, jump out and pop your second record. Fire off your three spike bullets at whatever three time monsters are closest, and when normal time resumes, sweep up the large car and one small piece of trash; the small trash to take out the red Chrono Blob, and the car plus one spike bullet for whichever two time monsters are left at the end of the recording. With that done, head through the gate and up the conveyors (you won’t be standing on them long enough for them to really push you anywhere), and onto a platform with a Dust Herder and a Molegon. These will be the recipients of your final two spike bullets.

Once the time monsters have been cleared out, sweep up the large log. If you look to where the minecarts on this platform are coming from, you should see a red Octoballoon that you can easily trickshot with the large log you just obtained. Sweep up three more pieces of trash, and then move on to tackle one of my favourite puzzles in the whole game: jump into one of the minecarts as it speeds past you, then hit a rewind to make it switch directions and fly back up to where it came from (make sure you don’t accidentally rewind the deaths of any time monsters in the process though). Finally, once you’ve hopped out of that minecart, jump across the little chasm and into the final minecart of Round 6. Ride it along, shooting the target as you go to prevent the cart from prematurely dropping into the abyss, and take out the final two blue Octoballoons as you fly past them. The goal gate is just up ahead: ride the minecart right up to it and jump out into the goal!

Boss - S+ rank time (3:20) My personal best: 0:45:16 YOU WILL NEED: 3 spike bullets, 2 fast forwards (optional)

Another very straightforward boss. If you use the fast forwards you can easily beat it in under a minute (you could probably do that even without the fast forwards honestly). If you do bring fast forwards, use them to speed through the boss’ post-hit stun/barrel shooting phase. Whether you do or you don’t, start by running right up to the boss and to its right. If you run fast enough, you can hit it with your first spike bullet before it even jumps into the air. Once it’s been hit, wait for it to become unstunned, jump over its spew of barrels, then just get around the side of it and shoot it again. Repeat one more time to finish it off. The goal gate will spawn more or less in the centre of the arena, so be ready to jump in and end the stage as quickly as possible!

–

Time sweep complete!