Secrets of the Duel!

The purpose of this post is to share a few things I have learned about the ‘pop-up duel’ portion of the Nintendo DS title Chocobo Tales. The information I’m sharing here is by no means complete, as I have not yet completed the game, nor unlocked every available card. For now, I’m merely recording a few strategies I’ve developed, and some ideas that have worked for me. I’m writing this with the assumption that the reader is familiar with the basics of ‘pop-up’ card dueling, and has already completed a few.

I’d like to begin by discussing decks for in-game battles.

When building a deck for in-game battles, (those between you and computer controlled opponents,) the player should focus on an element that goes contrary to the element of the player’s opponent. This is limited only to boss battles, however, and should not be used against every in-game opponent (such as Dueler-X). When dealing with boss battles, it is possible to determine the element of an opponent before the battle, giving the player ample opportunity to prepare. When preparing a deck for such a battle, I recommend stocking up with cards which simultaneously defend against the opposing element’s attacks, and return the favor with a devastating counter-attack, or a strong offensive attack. To accomplish this, the player should glance at some of the cards belonging to the opposing element in the player’s own collection to gain some concept of the attacks that the player is likely to see during battle. Develop a strategy accordingly. If, for example, the player’s opponent is using mainly earth-based attacks; be sure to choose cards which have a shield icon in the green circle of the card, while either offering a counter-attack when that shield is attacked, or, launching an offensive attack to the opponent’s weak-spot after a successful defense. To the best of the player’s ability, the player should try to anticipate, and prepare a defense against the opposing element’s attacks. In short, when choosing an attack card, anticipate possible weaknesses and choose carefully. When choosing a defensive card, be sure not only to choose a card which defends against the opposing element’s attacks, but one which counter-attacks, inflicts a status-effect, causes some other loss to the opponent, or which benefits the player in some way (by restoring HP, for example).

There are a few exceptions to what I have detailed above. In the game’s first major boss battle, the player is pitted against an enemy based on the fire element. At that point the player has not been provided with cards which normally oppose the fire element. The only choice, then, is to use a similar strategy with cards of any available element.

This brings up an interesting point. There are several ways to accomplish the strategy mentioned above, especially after the player has collected a greater number of cards. Many times, cards which are not part of the element opposite the opponent’s cards may be used to defend against them. Also, it is common for cards of one element to require CP from an opposing element – like a fire element card which requires fire and earth CP, for example. In this case, I would first build a deck which will successfully defend against the element which I will battle as mentioned above; then, I will fill the last few empty slots in my deck with cards that will provide CP for my main cards, while defending against attacks which I except to encounter.

Finally, I will briefly discuss the creation of decks for non-boss in-game battles, and player battles.

I have found, after attempting to create a strategic deck, that I am apt to forget something important. When focusing heavily on minute strategic details, I end up spreading myself to thin, and once the battle beings, I usually find that there is some critical flaw which I overlooked. Because of this, I recommend that a player not try to anticipate every little thing when taking on an opponent whose strategy it is not possible to anticipate; or in situations where a great variety of cards can be expected to appear from an opponent’s hand. In these cases, I feel it is best, at this point, to remain straightforward in developing a deck. To make sure that, regardless of the cards I choose, they are all well defended, and well supplied with CP for the final moments of the battle. If a player really favors strategy, the best recommendation I can give at this point is to formulate a deck which makes extensive use of debilitating cards like CP crushers, CP ability silencers, restorative cards, cards which steal CP from an opponent; and cards which inflict status-effects. Once those cards are in place, hopefully the player still has space for damage dealing cards to make use of any CP gained.

This brings me to my final deck type: the balanced deck. I have yet to build a properly balanced deck which is not deficient in some way. It seems that there are always sacrifices and trade-offs which must be made. Chance, it seems, is also a crucial factor. With most of the balanced decks I’ve attempted to build, the cards I’ve chosen defend in a satisfactory way, but do not deliver enough damage or debilitating blows early in the match, giving my opponent too much time to prepare devastating CP attacks. Unless you are very meticulous, I can not exactly recommend the balanced deck approach.

That is all for now. Thank you for reading, and I hope to add more later on as I seek to master the art of the duel! Happy dueling!