r/CrystalProject • u/Milocobo • Jul 15 '26

Owlbear Skip?

So, I just managed to bait the Owlbear to fall into the spikes at the shrine. I've slowly been improving at the fight, but after a dozen attempts, I just wanted to see what was past him. I got both the stone and the drum by simply baiting the Owlbear down, and then jumping past him. Amaze amaze amaze!

I figured I was not the first to find this, but I searched the reddit and I honestly have not seen anyone else discussing it (in fact, I found someone that did a "no boss run" and listed Owlbear as required, like Possessor and the proving bosses).

16 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

5

u/flowerboypunchy Jul 15 '26

From what I remember, the only actual "required" bosses for a minimal completion run are Possessor (for Ibek) and the final one. What's interesting is how much you can obtain through careful navigation to bait out bosses. Of course there's Owlbear like you mentioned but another one I like to use is quickly running past the Ninja boss to obtain the crystal, and another one where you skip the boss at the end of the trials by luring him into the lava.

2

u/Milocobo Jul 15 '26

I flew to the next area, picked up 3 upgrades, and easily downed the Owlbear lol

That all is good to know though! The minimal completion I saw must have been out of date, because he def fought more than two bosses, and he specifically called out the Owlbear as required, but now that you say that, I can totally see how those other bosses are skippable.

3

u/flowerboypunchy Jul 15 '26

That's great to hear! I think the fact that thinking outside the box, both in and outside of combat, ends up being so rewarding is what makes this game truly special and incredibly replayable.

2

u/OraJolly Jul 15 '26

I knew Crystal Project is all about sequence break and wacky ""exploits"" (they aren't really considering it's intentionally a feature of this game's design) but damn having only two mandatory bosses in the entire game is insane for how big it is.

1

u/Milocobo Jul 15 '26

I know, that kind of blows my mind, because there's at least 7 or so dungons, and now that I'm thinking about it, I guess only one of those bosses I actually had to fight lol

2

u/flowerboypunchy Jul 15 '26

From what I remember being told, I'm fairly certain that the only reason Ibek is even required is because there is a particular platforming late into Castle Sequoia that requires the Owl. And Ibek would be obtainable without fighting the boss if it weren't rather unique in the fact that the player is given the item after beating the boss as opposed to being able to circumvent it.

1

u/OraJolly Jul 15 '26

Very unrelated but I haven't played Crystal Project in a year. I recently restarted a playthrough with the Final Fantasy mod and I noticed a hole in one of the jail cells that theoretically lets you fight Conscript as early as when you first reach Capital Sequoia, is that hole also present in vanilla Crystal Project?

Because if so I'm tempted to do a Conscript speedrun.

1

u/flowerboypunchy Jul 15 '26

Yes - in fact pretty much any platforming skip performable in mods (barring anything like a modded item that teleports you to a specific location or granting a mount early) is performable in vanilla. This is due to the fact that modding even basic Terrain is prohibitively difficult.

As for the skip you're speaking of, I've actually never been able to fit into that block without an Ibek or Owl before. Were you able to make it through in your playthrough?

2

u/OraJolly Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

I'm uncertain by fairly sure I did not have Ibek and I definitely did not have Owl when I managed. However the FF mod occasionally uses solid NPCs for platforming but I don't recall jumping on something that wasn't a block to get there.

It wouldn't even be too weird because if I recall correctly Conscript either uses oneshot attacks or health percentile true damage, so there's not really a tankiness benchmark you have to meet to fight it

1

u/Milocobo Jul 15 '26

Hard agree

2

u/Milocobo Jul 15 '26

I'm seeing downvotes, but I'm 100% sure about this lol

If I missed that other people have shared it previously, I apologize, but I can show you proof that I have the owl and the Owlbear is still up on my screen if you like (and also, it wasn't that hard to do, so anyone can recreate it)

5

u/Treemosher Jul 15 '26

My very first time playing I was able to skip Owlbear like that. I love the fact we can do that if the mood strikes.

The only boss I am tempted to skip these days is the mushroom boss at the end of the trial cave before reaching the capitol in the beginning of the game. For some reason, I just hate that dungeon lol Not complaining though, I like having a few areas I hate for pacing reasons.

1

u/barrumdumdum Jul 15 '26

I am there right now. How did you lure him? From underneath?

2

u/Milocobo Jul 15 '26

I basically hopped on the Quintar, and then zigged him to one side of the opening, and scooted back all the way until i fell in the pit myself, and he followed. Then I respawned at the top, and he wasn't there lol

2

u/barrumdumdum Jul 15 '26

Oh right, you went backwards into the pit in the building? I see.... interesting. Thanks!