You will unlock a variety of trophies and achievements in Sea of Stars, most of which will just come as you play the various content in the game. However, there are a few that need a little extra work on your end, since they don’t come naturally. One of these is the What a Technique! trophy/achievement. To do this, you need to use the Artful Gambit Relic to defeat ten bosses, although it seems that not every single boss will count towards this.
Where to Find the Artful Gambit Relic in Sea of Stars¶
Before doing anything, you will need to find the Artful Gambit Relic, as it’s not exactly out in the open. In fact, you won’t really get this Relic until pretty late in the game. Technically, the game doesn’t want you to get it until you have access to the final dungeon, but it can be gotten a little earlier than that. However, there might be a bug that prevents you from getting one of the Artifacts, if you happen to do things out of order, so it might be a good idea to not do that.
(1 of 2) Speak to Serai after setting up camp to spark the conversation for this endgame side quest.
Speak to Serai after setting up camp to spark the conversation for this endgame side quest. (left), The Artful Gambit Relic is found in this chest, right before the Gun Goddess boss. (right)
Either way, the Relic is found in a chest in the area with the Gun Goddess, who is part of The Queen That Was side quest. Normally, you’d speak with Serai at a camp once the final dungeon is accessible, and she will hand over the Joce’s Belt Buckle Artifact. Speak with Teaks and use the clues in the story to find out how to navigate the Cerulean Expanse. If done correctly (check The Queen That Was page for more info), then you will take a speedball directly to the area with the Gun Goddess. Note that you don’t need to fight her right now, as the chest is before the fight.
How to Unlock the What a Technique! Trophy/Achievement¶
So, the Artful Gambit Relic is the ultimate challenge in the game, in terms of in-game items. Whenever you activate it, the Relic will reduce your maximum HP by 95%, which also includes the HP gained from other items/Relics. In addition to this, enemies won’t take any damage at all whenever they are casting (when Locks are on your screen). However, to make some things positive, all timed hits will deal double damage, and timed blocks will reduce damage taken to only a single point.
Now, the description says that you only need to defeat ten bosses with the Relic activated. You won’t need to have the Relic activated whenever you are not fighting bosses, so you can turn it off while going through areas/dungeons. You are able to use other Relics to help, too, so you don’t need to turn the others off at all. For example, the Relic that reduces damage taken is great here, since you won’t have a lot of HP to work with when fighting. Don’t be afraid to experiment here, since Artful Gambit is the only one you need on to work towards the trophy/achievement.
(1 of 2) You can use as many Relics as you want, as long as Artful Gambit is on.
You can use as many Relics as you want, as long as Artful Gambit is on. (left), Don’t forget to equip your strong weapons when doing New Game+. (right)
Hardest Method¶
The absolute most difficult path you can take is to try this towards the end of the game. Once you set foot in Sky Base, you should be able to head straight to the Cerulean Expanse and grab the Artful Gambit Relic. From there, you can do all of the endgame bosses with it on, but this isn’t going to be easy, as they tend to be the strongest bosses in the game. This also includes the True Ending Boss. The reason this is tough is that you won’t have a lot of HP with the Relic activated, so pretty much every attack is going to KO someone, or even the entire party. That means you will need to get very skilled at performing timed blocks.
Easier Method¶
After clearing the main story, you have the option to start a New Game+. This allows you to start the story from the beginning, but with equipment and levels carrying over to that file. While there isn’t really any incentive to doing this, since there isn’t anything actually new in NG+, it does make this trophy/achievement much easier. If you equip the Relic right before every boss you encounter, you will unlock the trophy/achievement after defeating the Leaf Monster boss in the Autumn Hills area.
(1 of 3) Enemies will become immune to damage while casting, when Artful Gambit is activated.
Longest Method¶
This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the above method, but instead of just playing through the main story again, you will simply go after the first few bosses. Once you beat the first two bosses, as an example, you can then save your game and start another New Game+. Pick that save file and the game will remember which bosses you’ve already defeated with the Relic activated. For example, you can simply do the Bosslug and Elder Mist a total of five times, and the trophy/achievement will unlock.
Sign up
No Comments