How to beat the Chimera in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

After a long climb through the Crystal Tower, you face the guardian of the stage – the Chimera. Chimera has always been a permanent boss in Final Fantasy, due to his multi-attack abilities and high-damaging AoE attacks making him particularly difficult to deal with. The Chimera in Stranger of Paradise is no different: with a devastating Phase 2 designed to test your parrying skills, Chimera can be an annoying boss for many. How to defeat the Chimera in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

The Chimera has several attacks with decent windup and telegraph, but failing to follow these attacks will result in heavy damage. Of particular note is his ability to attack twice at once, with Snake Tail acting as a support/status disruptor while Lion Head focuses on damage. Here are all the attacks in phase 1:

• Basic Attacks: In addition to a three-hit combo, the Chimera can spin a dime and smash a target behind or to the sides. It is best to attack to the maximum a few times and prepare for a counterattack, since the counterattack telegraphs are not very long. Finally, the Snake Tail can also sneak in a hit every now and then during a regular three-hit combo, further reducing your break gauge.
• body slam: After a fairly long animation, the chimera jumps up and strikes in a targeted area. This attack can be parried.
• earthbreaker: After the Chimera is blown up and hovering, it will fall to the ground, dealing Earth damage in an area around it. This attack cannot be parried and must be dodged.
• Dark breath and silent gaze: The boss shoots a wisp of darkness forward, dealing damage and also increasing your elemental vulnerability to darkness. In addition, the snake tail will try to silence you and prevent the use of actions and spells. The Serpent Tail can also randomly use Silencing Stare independently of Dark Breath.
• dive bomb: After being blown up, the Chimera spins towards a target and attacks them, dealing massive damage. This attack cannot be parried.
• thunder roar: After roaring, Chimera will fire waves of electricity around itself in a criss-cross pattern. This attack can be parried.
• snake breath: The Serpent’s Tail emits a wave of venom in a cone behind the Chimera – although it can work independently, it can also be used in conjunction with Dark Breath or Thunder Roar.
• Dark Cannon: The Chimera can be used in the air or on the ground and fires a bullet at a target. This attack can be parried and can also be stolen as an instant order.
• Rocky look: The Serpent’s Tail attempts to petrify targets directly behind the Chimera. This prevents all movement and actions for a set period of time or until receiving an attack.
• Thundering deluge: After a slight animation, the Chimera emits powerful electrical waves in all directions. This attack can be parried.

The trick of Chimera, like many bosses, is recognizing when it’s your turn to attack. Many of Chimera’s breath and wave attacks come with powerful recovery animations that allow you and your allies to get into multiple combos. In order to survive this fight, it is important to recognize when your turn is over and retreat. After ripping the Chimera’s wings off, you’d think he’d be easier in Stage 2 – and you’d be wrong. Several heads appear in their place, adding to the Chimera’s already formidable arsenal:

• flame breath: One of the new heads, either Goat or Dragon, will fire a flaming shot at a target regardless of any other attack. This attack can be parried and stolen as an instant order.
• Aqua Breath: The Dragon Head will emit a water wave in a cone-shaped area around the Chimera. This attack can be parried, but the attack lasts for a few seconds, so multiple parries may be required.
• dragon bite: The dragon head strikes on its own, dealing slam damage to a target. This attack cannot be parried.
• Thundra: Chimera summons three waves of lightning at a target’s location. This attack can be parried and stolen as an instant action.
• Deadly Chorus: Chimera and her multiple heads all strike at once, performing random breath attacks in a 360 degree radius around her. This attack lasts for several seconds and covers a large part of the arena, but can be parried with the right timing.
• Regenerate: After taking significant damage, the Chimera casts a rain-like effect on itself. This attack can be interrupted with sufficiently heavy damage.
• Magic torrent: Chimera and his many heads perform a series of attacks simultaneously: Aqua Breath in a 360-degree wrap, Meteor in a diagonal pattern around him, and Thunder Roar in a criss-cross pattern around him. The meteors are small, and the trick to avoiding this is to parry or stand diagonally away from the boss.

Chimera’s attack speed skyrockets in Stage 2, with the multiple heads often attacking between combos to chain them together. The phase 1 moves, with no flying attacks, are all here as well. Thankfully, Chimera still staggers as slightly as he did in Stage 1, so heavy weapons and consistent attacks will cause him to collapse for a short time. Deadly Chorus and Sorcerous Torrent are used fairly often, so be ready to parry – don’t just chain combos mindlessly and expect not to be punished.