This is kind of amazing to me. They should allow you to only choose a single captain and then recruit as you play. That would give the game another twist.
In fact, I never even tried to see if this is a possibility. Can you do this if you have the entire game?
Hopefully they can update the game to replace the locked random option as an end button or add that option (like Capcom VS Snk 2 on ratio mode when you can decide to have just a single character or two, rather than being forced to have the 3 characters on your team), it would give an interesting twist for players that own every character or most of them.
You do realize that this one person youāre talking about doesnāt actually represent the whole of casual fighting game fans or their skills, right? Itās also just a tad bit condescending to come in here and have to humble yourself a bit and admit that somethingās a bit harder than youād like it to be, only to have someone else come in and basically say āyeah my friend that barely plays fighting games? Yeah he beat this, so anyone should be able to.ā The implication behind that statement to anyone thatās found the mode to be a bit on the punishing side being pretty obvious here.
What exactly is your motivation here? Iām curious. Donāt get me wrong, like I said, I plan to keep trying and I do enjoy this mode immensely. But your example aside, Iām trying to look at a bigger picture outside of myself and my fandom, as Iāve seen a bit more evidence (though itās admittedly still anecdotal) from people that this mode can be a bit too punishing.
Again, not saying that the mode should be a cake walk, as that defeats the need for all of the consumables and guardians etc in the first place, but for people that want the stage, there could be some unwanted frustration over something thatās meant to be fun. I think that this could be remedied a bit by allowing people playing on normal to unlock the stage.
Thanks!! Iāll give this method a try. I still want to beat him with a group of characters that I enjoy using on a regular basis, but I get what youāre driving at here and I think it makes sense. I wish that I were good enough to beat him with a little less velveeta, but maybe thatās not the point?
To try and get people to understand that Challenging difficulty isnāt so hard that only pro players can do it, that you donāt need microtransactions or even your characters of choice.
I donāt see any reason why the devs should give the stage to people on a lower difficulty so that they can play the mode as little as possible. I understand that @MudArcade has already stated that he does enjoy the mode. Thatās good, and I have faith heāll eventually be able to beat it on Challenging as it is right now.
I only stand by my points because I see what I want from this mode and how I think it will be fun. I guess making the stage unlockable on Normal wonāt really affect me. But lowering the difficulty on Challenging would make the mode boring, because it lowers the risk of all my decisions. Am I selfish in this thought? Probably. But thatās what I think.
When the devs revealed this mode, they said something along the lines of āBe prepared to lose a lot. Once you accept that you will lose, you will be in the right mindset to work towards beating the mode.ā I think some players are not at this point yet.
Isnāt so hardā¦ For you. Again, this mode tends to be geared more toward casual players by its very nature. Can we agree on that? Iām not saying theyāre the only people that play the mode. Godlike difficulty undoubtedly exists for this very reason.
But I just think that thereās a chance that, more likely than not, there will be players with mediocre skills, but the desire to unlock everything. You canāt just say āgit gudā to these people or āanyone can do it.ā Theyāll just go find something else to play instead.
There are obviously a ton of players out there that donāt come to this site, that have no idea what the best load out is to cheese Gargos for a win, who will play a few times and be disgusted with the difficulty and quit and thatās even assuming they know the whole purpose of the mode and the fact that youāre not supposed to be able to beat it the first few times going through.
So you think it would be better to force people in to a situation where they become frustrated and want to quit the entire game because the content they want to see is locked behind something that makes them angry?
Look, I get it, games are too easy these days and players should want to be better and learn and play harder, etc. But thatās not the entire audience of a game. Itās just not. Some play for the challenge, no question, and of course you canāt make the game geared toward the worst players at the expense of the decent or better players, but there could be a better balance, thatās all Iām saying.
Yeah okay, Iām trying to think of other people and how other casuals might perceive the mode. As far as Iām personally concerned? Iām enjoying the grind.
I think youāre right about adjusting the difficulty on Challenging. There has to be a middle ground between Godlike and Normal thatās stiff enough to force you to upgrade, but not with the kind of difficulty that Godlike offers.
I think the stage unlocking on normal would be good for people that are more content oriented and are interested less in the grind, in losing a lot, etc. To me, itās better to cast as wide a net as possible and keep more people happy. I mean, Iām sure most casuals would enjoy the mode and playing against opponents and unlocking mimic skins and what not. I donāt think it just has to be about the stage and then thatās it.
Thatās certainly true, but I also think that thereās probably a decent number of players that either A. hate losing by its very nature and B donāt follow what the devs do or say and maybe have no idea why this mode is so punishing beyond the idea that itās steering you toward unlock items/guardians or, on a more sinister level, perhaps steering you toward microtransactions.
Now, I agree with you that you absolutely do NOT need those to beat this mode. But I think itās entirely possible for some people to play this mode, get to Gargos, get thoroughly destroyed and come away with the assumption that the only way to beat it is to spend real money.
The more they can do to mitigate that possibility, the better.
It just takes patience and time.
I have yet to actually just play on Challenging, and wade through all the battles to get Gargosā buffs off. In order to do that, I would have to pick the characters I know best, and at this point Iām just having fun playing in Normal, picking whatever character team, and just trying to amass a ton of items, all the lore, and have fun. Maybe once I unlock all the dossiers, get some more mimic skins, and reach a level of understanding of the game with a few more characters to where I feel comfortable, I will then jump into Challenging for real, but right now Iām just not there.
For the record though, Boss Gargos is nothing but cheeseā¦but I get you. I too have my preferred characters and will try to beat him with them, but at the same time I know that in order to get everything I want in SLs, Iām going to have to play with everybody to a degree. I see/saw the Stage as just one of those things. Maybe after I unlock everything (or maybe just some more stuff) I will go back in and try and push through a challenging or Godlike run, but right now I need to get my skills up a bit more before I start banging my head against that wall (lol).
FYI: When I beat challenging Gargos, I just skipped right to him and fought him with all buffs. That Gargos isnāt meant to be far, so I have no regret about doing what I did. I did that Challenging run after playing on Normal and beating that mode at least like 10 times, so I had a ton of items to burn, and just wanted to see if I could do it. This is also after trying to play a legit Challenging runā¦which just wasnāt fun as I was burning through resources like nobodies business.
At the end of the day though, you can do it. Again, just find your strat, and execute.
I find the one try gargos very off putting. All that work for one shot. Iāve barely touched the game in weeks because of this and a few other issues I have with it.
All of this here makes perfect sense to me, and itās really how I shouldāve gone in at the start. I figured āIāll get the stage first, get that over with, and then move down to normal so I can really enjoy playing the matches, making the decisions, unlocking the skins, the lore parts, etc.ā Probably not the best path I couldāve chosen lol.
Youāre also right on the cheese part with Gargos. I guess I was hoping that some modicum of skill would get me passed him once I had enough in terms of guardians and consumables, but trying to beat him in a straight up match doesnāt seem to be doing me much good.
Absolutely.
Iām pretty sure the game straight up tells you āDonāt be afraid to lose!ā after you complete the tutorial segment.
Though TBH not many people read those anyway 
Many other games have done this. Remember Mileena skin #3 in MK9? That was fun, right?
Is this a good design idea? I guess thatās up to interpretation.
Thats what they do man, they come in and try to make you look bad by being condescending. Its on nearly every thread. Especially if they dont agree with your opinion. there is a hand full of regulars that do this. I just ignore them.
Git gud
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KAPPA
Iāll put this out there for everyone, Shadow Lords, much like old boss Shadow Jago, doesnāt require skill to beat, at least not a lot. Have you ever lost an online match to a Jago that just kept jumping Mk because your game was off? Sureā¦ We all have. The thing with shadow lords, youāre chances of winning come from your preparations. Play normal, get guardians, consumables, artifacts, stockpile resources to make your team op. I played normal 5 times before I tried challenging. I wanted a snake guardian since it was key to my strategy along with odorous wolf hearts. I farmed until I got them and beat challenging my first go. It was no cake walk, it took all 3 characters to win, but I did. Unblockable attacks, 1 chance break into poison ender. Always attack him, donāt let him instinct or summon minions. That is what I used. I know there are other strategies, like flip out spam, or meaty throw spam, find what works for you and have patience. The mode is hard, so it feels rewarding when you win. If everyone could dominate shadow lords day one and earn all the skins, what would be the purpose? Why are games like Contra, Mega Man and Castlevania still soo popular when they were punishingly difficult? No game is for everyone, but there are difficulty levels for everyone. If challenging is too hard, better prepare for the next time. You will unlock everything eventually.
Anyone that wants help developing strategies can talk to me. I can even give some tips on how to get items and ways to setup teams.
I have to say that I agree with you @SonicDolphin117, the game actually tells you āDonāt be afraid to lose (or in the Shadow Lords case, die)ā, in my case is something like common life when I play videogames and when I see a difficult challenge I canāt help but thing āOK, I may have lose but when I have the determination of completing a task, is hard for me to step back of the challengeā, I mean, I am now able to play Shadow Lords in Godlike mode and itās hard, but at least for me is very fun and if I play well, for me it is a win big vs win bigger situation when I fight Gargos, I donāt feel like I trully lost a fight against Gargos when I fail to beat him because the game also gives you a reward for your efforts and if you got a pretty nice score, the rarest reward can save you for that match and be able to get the Astral Plane. I still remember the pain I got to pass for Mileenaās skin in MK9 (both home version on PS3 and the PS Vita version).
Challenges like that makes my blood boil and get motivated to complete them.
Very wise words @SullenMosquito. It takes time but eventually anyone can do it.
This community is helpful, just have to be open to it. Shadow Lords Gargos was designed as āThe hardest fighting game bossā we knew that before it launched if you kept up with the game. It is a challenge. The only reward locked behind difficilty is just the stage. Having an exclusive reward gives a goal to achieve. Removing that exclusivity defeats the purpose of rewards. Shadow lords is nearing a month old. Iāve stated before, no one likes a game they can beat in 1 sitting. Not to mention KI and Shadow Lords are free to play. Just keep at it, it takes time not everyone is a JWong. If you donāt get the stage one try, sit back, rush a few normals, get some mimic skins, and learn how gargos looks when he attacks. Guess break some animations, when you land a breaker, remember what you broke, then youāll make him look like a joke 
While I agree with most of what youāve said, this I do not. In fact, there is a large portion of the community that still wants a proper arcade mode in KI.
Iām a part of that large portion!
Anyway Iāve just unlocked Astral Plane, so @FallofSeraphs76 you can do it too.
Basically Iām one of the worst, if not the absolute worst, KI players so you donāt need to worry, itās just a matter of time.
zero procedure: my team was Glacius, Jago and Rash (my secret weapon, the chosen one for the final fight vs Gargos just like @BeautyLongsack has shown in his video).
Iāve played some challenging SL instance not using artifacts to cure me after the fights, dying a lot but keeping all the loot until I had at least 3 hodorous wolf hearts, dragon scale-something III and that red nano-something III (again, see BeautyLongsack video)ā¦I could not bear the idea of grinding to gain enough ingame-money to buy the best guardian pack so I spent some KI gold on it (gained what I wanted, 1 perfect snake, 1 killer bat and 1 killer ram).
Iāve started my decisive run skipping turns until Omens beating them only with my Glacius with Snake and nano-things restoring my energy after every fight, Iāve beaten maybe 3 or four Omens skipping every other fight until Gargos arrival.
Iāve equipped wolf hearts and nano-things to every member, and set my team in this order: Rash (snake), Jago (bat) and Glacius (ram).
I lost with Rash lowering Gargos energy a lot and finished him with Jago (stopped 1 resurrection with HK).
If your objective, like mine, is to unlock astral plane, just farm the objects you want not wasting them in your preparatory runs (not much at least).
Good luck pal!
Things is I dont have time to play 4 days in a row to reach Gargos fully debuffed for a 3rd time. I have a career, 2 kids, a wife, home, cars, bills, I dont have time to play KI more than 1-2 hours per day. Id rather not spend those 2 hours playing shadow lords only to be cheated by Gargos.
Im not doing it again. Fukkk a Astral plane
Donāt worry, keep calm.
I too have a wife, two sons and all the rest 
I usually play one or two hours after my two little monkeys fall asleep, I think my various runs required around 4 or 5 hours total (plus maybe two hours in old runs between beta and some play just for fun as soon as SL has been released).
I was terrified of the bug not unlocking the level, but seems I didnāt stumbled on it.
I think the most important part, for people low skilled like me, is to have a good guardian, perhaps the high level snake is the best (too bad find it is luck-related).
I understand your frustration anyway, I hope this will not become the rule for unlock possible future bonuses.
4 days in a row? What? It doesnāt take that long. Just skip to the Omens, beat them, and fight Gargos. Plus the Astral Plane is a bonus. You donāt need it.