Help please

[Guest Communist Jedi]

I'm new and Darth Wart's Walkthru had no advice on how to beat Maul with Plo...

I can't do it!

He kicks my ass everytime

[Guest Darth Wart]

You are new! From the guide:

 

 

 Beating Maul with Plo “Molasses” Koon is unquestionably the most difficult feat of a game not renowned for its facility. When you do it, you’ll officially be allowed to call yourself a bad-ass mother at JPB. The problem is, despite the lengthy instructions that follow, you’re simply going to have to die a few dozen times on your own before you get the feel of what’s not working. Once you’ve gotten to that point, however, you’ll be ready to employ one of the four methods that follow:

 

Method #1:

 

“First Encounter:

 

“When you first walk into the room where Maul is waiting, target him as you start creeping towards him. Unleash the X,X,S,L2 combo just as he starts to run toward you. Do it immediately as he starts to run or even a little before. If you wait until he's on top of you, you’ll have no chance. This combo in this situation will often give you a pair of whacks on Maul to start off the sequence. If he blocks the entire salvo, hold down your blocking button and jump backward (you have to been in lock mode for this to work -- the last thing you want to be doing is running away from Maul with your back to him).

 

“From here you only need to know one combo: square, square, x. This has nearly a 50% success rate if you do it right. By right I mean make sure there's a decent bit of distance between you and Maul; don't attempt to fight him up close and personal unless you really like those four and five hit combos he'll nail you with.

 

Here's the most important part of fighting Maul: if he blocks your S,S,X combo, immediately jump back once or twice (I like the extra room two jumps back gives me, but you can back into walls very quickly that way). Repeat the combo after jumping back. When you hit Maul, wait until your swing is finished and then immediately fire up the combo again. You have to be somewhat deliberate when pushing the buttons; it's hard to do in the heat of the battle and I lost many lives when I hit the buttons too fast and ended up with a single slash instead of my combo.

 

“When you get the combo/jump back thing working to perfection, you'll have a good shot at beating him in one-on-one encounters.

 

“Second Encounter:

 

“This is in the hallway immediately after the first encounter. Know that you have one health up and TWO force ups waiting for you after this battle. So go ahead and use your L2 + X lightning force power up. It's almost a guaranteed hit every time you use it, and the two force ups will refill your force bar before the next encounter. Spare your health bar at all costs during this stage!

 

“Third Encounter:

 

“This one's the easiest, IMO. I'm not sold on the lightsaber power-up, but it does seem to offer a marginal advantage over the regular saber. If you can grab it and make your way to Maul quickly, you might be able to sting him for 3-4 combos while you still have it. Meet Maul as far out on the bridge as you can while still leaving enough room for your combo. You don't have a lot of room to backup before you hit the edge of the catwalk. If you can land 3-4 combos, you'll probably be able to finish him off with your L2 + X force power. That's my preferred strategy.

 

“Fourth encounter:

 

“The most difficult, IMO. Maul likes to lay back and sting you with his lightning. It sucks for two reasons: one, you have a hard time getting close enough to land your combos, and two, he's prone to knocking you off the catwalk. My advice here is to come in and preempt his force powers by using your own L2 + X lighting. Use it to get in close and start whacking away with your combo. Depth perception is difficult if you are on the far side of the catwalk attacking toward the foreground, so be careful using the "stick and move" strategy. And don't backup TOO far or Maul will plant a bolt up your ass. Be very wary of the edges -- make sure you'll be falling back onto the catwalk and not into the abyss.

 

“For some reason this seems to be the shortest of the five battles; it takes fewer hits to make him exit stage right.

 

“Final Encounter:

 

“This is really no different from the first two encounters. Use your combo and your L2 + X power as needed. When you get knocked down, immediately block and retreat (in lock mode) to avoid those killer Maul combos. Don't let him push you into the force field, as he seemed to enjoy doing to me. The final reactor room sequence seems to bring out the best in Maul...he's a little harder to hit from my experience, and he seems to take more punishment before finally keeling over and dying (damn cockroach!).” [all this courtesy Pizza the Hutt]

 

Method #2:

 

“I'm so proud of this strategy because it took me so long to find. Make sure you locked onto Maul. Back away from him and hit R2. This should cause Plo to hop backwards. As soon AS HE LANDS begin the combo for either X, X, Square, or Square, Square, X. I prefer Square, Square, X. But why must you jump back? Because Plo's first Square strike is extremely slow. Usually Maul will begin a combo before the strike hits and you are stuck helpless. Hopping back puts some distance between you and Maul, and starting the combo when you land lets the first strike happen before Maul can get to you. The first swing will miss, but the next to will make contact. Be prepared to counter with force if Maul blocks and begins a combo. When you’re on the tight hallways of the second half of the power core, you'll probably have to resort to an all out attack. Use your L2 + X attack freely here.” [this gem was plagiarized from ShadeShifter]

 

Method #3:

 

“I’ve spanked Darth Maul with Plo Koon, once again. This was the result of the cheap, repeated use of a single combo. Make sure you are close to him, and use square square X. The last hit of the combo will always hit him, if you are close enough. Continue this process until the Sith punk drops. Plo’s chain lightning is also useful for giving Maul a little taste of his own dark side medicine.” [courtesy Jericho]

 

Method #4:

 

When you first see Maul, zap him with your lightning, then start in with the SSX combo. In the second room, continue to zap him repeatedly with your lightning until it’s all used up. Then start in with the SSX. At that point you should only have to land a couple more blows to be released to the reactor room. If, during the lightning zaps (which nearly always work for at least one hit) you notice that he’s at that hunched-over, groaning stage (and he’s close to you), you can safely start in with your trademark combo, knowing it’ll hit. First do the combo, but since—as everybody agrees—it doesn’t work much of the time, start in with the lightning when you get desperate. Don’t die without having used up all your lightning—you might have lived! And make sure that when the two of you are going at it, you’re locked on. Also be sure to hop back some distance before unleashing the combo. If you’re nose to nose with Maul, your melodious swishing’s probably gonna get interrupted. [this one’s mine]

 

Carefully study the four methods above, and you’ll find they’re all saying basically the same thing.

 

Related advice:

 

If you’ve done Plo solid through the game up to now, you should be starting with 8 credits. If you get below five before making it to the first checkpoint, I’d exit and re-enter the level. The chances that you’ll survive the final encounter with only 5 guys are slim. Plus imagine how frustrating it would be to do the windmill and maze parts and only have one guy left with which to tackle Maul. You’d have a nosebleed. Do yourself a favor and start fresh if you get below five guys.

 

Pay careful attention to precisely WHEN to hit your combo. Do not hit your combo in the middle of another combo, assuming they’ll “queue up.” (You may have gotten to this point in the game without having paid too much attention to the art of using combos; you must remedy that defect in your JPB skills before you can progress.) I myself tend to use combos sparingly since any blow by your opponent will interrupt you, forcing you to start again. But this Plo situation is different. When Maul whacks you, wait until your character recovers before you (rapidly) hit SSX. And don’t keep hitting SSX moronically without waiting for a break: once you whack him, wait until your character stops swinging before you launch a new combo. When he saunters up to you, there’s a brief moment when he’s right there but inactive. That’s when you SSX. My point is, hit the combo during the pauses, not during the action.

 

And be prepared to lose at least a hundred guys during this operation. It will likely take days before you can land upon a commixture of the abovelisted strategies that works for you, or before you luck out. Pizza the Hutt mourns that he must have lost “a hundred guys” before he hit upon his method. Move over, buddy. I easily lost three times that many diligently testing everybody’s methods (and then trying to find my own), and I’m by no means a bad player.

 

Just keep in mind that aside from the fact that my method might not work for you, all four of these frequently fail to work for ME. So you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

Incidentally, the Prima guide deserves to be burned at the stake for remaining inexcusably silent over the MAJOR issue of the “glacially slow” Plo’s irrefragable weakness against Maul.

 

Lastly, to quote Pizza the Hutt: “When you do beat him, feel free to release a primal scream. You'll have earned it.”

 

 

ABOUT THE FINAL BATTLE

 

Remember during this final battle that when that red forcewall behind the combatants disappears, Maul’s had enough. You can let him go and he’ll scurry off. But if you’re low on life AND on a roll, maybe you should just keep whacking him. If you cause enough damage here, he’ll skip the intermediary room.

 

Also, if you die and are sent back to that final checkpoint, don’t wait until your character visually appears before beginning your combo. During that second or so of blackness, before you actually appear, you’re on. (You should have learned this by now, though.) Even worse, you’re usually facing the other way.

 

Don’t hang back, waiting for Maul to exhaust his force powers to expire, like yours would. His powers never expire (until you’re him).

 

 

 

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Wart

 

Currently the revised strategy guide is being housed (ON ONE PAGE!) at

http://darthwart.tripod.com/page1.html, which will be the address until Kanigget gets back at the end of June.

[Guest Communist Jedi]

I can't even beat him the first time!

[Guest the13thJedi]

Communist,

 

Welcome to the Forum... But just one thing: please don't swear on this board... that is something that the moderators frown upon.

 

As far as beating Maul with Plo, It takes a lot of time and patience to do. I wish I could tell you more, but, I'm not much for providing strategy on this board. That is usually left up to Wart of Kannigget (they're info is right on the money).

 

Welcome onboard and enjoy.

 

the13thjedi

[Guest Communist Jedi]

Oh yeah, sorry, I noticed just AFTER i posted that what I said was bad.

Please forgive me, I was fustrated as I was fighting Maul with the terrible Plo at the time.

 

Needless to say, I shut of my junk TV with Force and recklessness... hehehe...

 

Not the playstation though... always with that.

[Guest Solrya]

Don't worry, I took me...*counting how many times she played as Plo Koon*...14 times before I got to really kick Darth Maul's @$$. On the final encounter, I suggest you run to another side if neccesary, tried that twice, got killed once, then on the second try was a success. And I find the SSX combo very useful. my strategy might no work for you...but give it a try

 

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"Just because I'm a 15 year-old doesn't mean I can't be a Jedi Knight"

-Solrya

«««¥§¤°¹°¤§¥»»»«««¥§¤°¹°¤§¥»»»

The Force is with you...always.

[Guest Qui-Gon Jeff]

Hey Wart I forgot to thank you for making that walk through. Not only did I kick Maul's butt. But I did it on the first try. Thanks!

 

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"Be warey I sense a disturbance in the Force"

[Guest Qui-Gon Jeff]

Whoops I thought that the message had got deleted. I got punted off the Internet just as I finished writting the last message.