Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 22: Personal Weakness

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's always risky to admit my weaknesses to the Internet, but Ring Fit Adventure is on-the-snout...

This may be the second-to-last edition of the KoopaTV Fitness Log series—KoopaTV Fitness Fridays. At least, for a while. But maybe not. I'm supposed to be playing Ring Fit Adventure every week and telling you all about it as a source of motivation and evidence that I'm taking my physical fitness seriously. Some folks take it as a walkthrough of Adventure Mode, which is... fine, I suppose.

I'm going through this on difficulty level 30, which has a big impact on the time it takes to go through these worlds. Last week, for Fitness Log Week 21, I completed World 21 and made progress for the initial stages of World 22: Land of Hades, where I'm continuing after completing the training sections managed by Allegra (who has troubles with jealousy) and Armando (who has troubles with getting a girlfriend). Next, I have two paths, which are surely controlled by the remaining two of the Four Masters: Abdonis and Guru Andma.

This is the game's way of telling us what happened in Week 21.
(Note that “get a girlfriend” is given the significant text colour.)

The upper path's story level is Six-Peak Temple, featuring Abdonis. (It's a pun off, you know, six-pack.) He laments that the only things he can trust are his abdominals. Even his mother abandoned him. (He abandoned her, technically, but whatever.) He's tasking me to get to the goal with select Yellow Fit Skills, which are the best Fit Skills in this game, so I'm not worried. At my disposal are Leg Scissors Lv.2 (three-range), Overhead Lunge Twist Lv.2 (one-range), Seated Ring Raise Lv.2 (one-range), Leg Raise Lv.2 (one-range), and Pendulum Bend Lv.2 (three-range). These exclude the five-range Abs Fit Skills I love and adore, but they also exclude gross stuff like Planks, so, oh well. 

None of the available Fit Skills are inherently awful exercises I want to avoid, it's just... It takes almost three and a half minutes of in-game exercise time to do 48 repetitions of Overhead Lunge Twist, and that only does half a health bar of a Dark Stepper enemy. By comparison, 60 repetitions of the Seated Ring Raise has slightly less power, but only takes a minute to go through.

Also a factor in long, forced-fights? Six-Peak Temple has a monster group with four monsters, but I can only hit three at a time, at most. Ha... Hm. At least my limited hits can be very impactful, especially with smoothie-boosting.

Abdonis learns that he should believe in other people besides himself and resolve his go-it-alone trust issues. This opens up much of the map with regards to the warp zones (which are littered in Game Gyms I'll take on soon), but we won't be able to progress through the story without clearing the next level, which is potentially the most interesting.

Guru Andma's. How will the game handle a trial based on Yoga/balance? And what is her character flaw? In the interest of maximum-prepared-ness, I finally drink all of the Dragon Drinks and Skill Drinks I've been stockpiling for the whole game. That's a lot of them.

Ring is joining me in wondering what Guru Andma's character flaw is.

We scare Guru Andma (whom is actually pleased with her life as a ghost), and she tells us to go through Calm Cloister. It begins with an extended Overhead Side Bend cart segment into our first fight, and our Fit Skills are...Tree Pose Lv.2 (one-range, 425 base power), Warrior II Pose Lv.2 (five-range, 210 base power), Warrior I Pose Lv.2 (one-range, 300 base power), Revolved Crescent Lunge Pose Lv.2 (one-range, 295 base power), and Boat Pose (five-range, 155 base power). I parenthetically noted the moves’ attack powers because it's very...curious how this is supposed to be balanced.

After the enemy fight, there is an extended series of squat-launchers and conveyor belts into the second enemy fight (with four monsters) that you should be able to clear in one Warrior II Pose Lv.2 followed by one Boat Pose. So far, very relaxing level. A few more squat-launchers and conveyor belts later, and it's the last monster fight: A Malachite Matta Ray and a Dark Puffersquish. I used my weaker single-target Fit Skill to knock out the Malachite Matta Ray, which doesn't have much HP but will recover the Dark Puffersquish, and saved my heavier-hitting Tree Pose for the Dark Puffersquish, since it has a LOT of endurance. (Though it's not offensively much of a threat.)

The level finally ends with another Overhead Side Bend cart segment, and the controls suddenly became unresponsive in the middle of it. Blargh. Guru Andma's weakness is her fear of aging and the declines that come with it, as she's worried about what will become of the Grandminions now that she has passed. I, too, am also greatly worried about getting older. It's why I hate my birthday so much. 

How old is Ring, anyway?

Somehow, the Four Masters’ trials were more-or-less ordered from “most sweaty” to “relaxing”. That's a bizarre game difficulty curve. But just to upset me, two requests opened up in town. One is for the Aerobic Set Fitness Gym, which as you may remember, has an enormous range of easy Fit Skills and very difficult Fit Skills. I'm tasked with scoring an average of 90 points throughout the set to get two measly Diamonds. This time, I cheated at the Overhead Squat and Mountain Climbers (using a couch for Overhead Squat is still tiring... and standing up and doing rapid running-in-place for Mountain Climbers isn't really more effective than trying the buggy Mountain Climbers on the floor) and got an average score of 96 points. As for the second request, it's clearing this world's Battle Gym in 13 turns. I did it in 10. All I got was a measly 800 coins. That ends my Sunday night.

On Monday night, I have several Game Gyms to clear. Here's a table in the order I did them, though I'll note the requests for the latter two didn't get asked for until later. (Specifically, not until you look at the world boss details.)

Game Gym and Reward	Request and Reward
Bootstrap Tower (Advanced) for one Diamond	Score at least 6000 points within 60 seconds for two Diamonds
Bank Balance (Novice; FOG) for 400 coins	Score at least 3000 points within 50 seconds for 800 coins
Core Crushing (Advanced) for one Diamond	Clear with 10000 points or more without hitting any of the robots’ shields for two Diamonds
Dreadmill (Advanced) for 400 coins	Clear with 4000 points or more without getting any gold tokens for 800 coins

Obligatory reminder that fog levels/minigames are awful.
Do you see the bomb on the left side? Well, you'll have to react to it!

The second-half overworld treasure chest contained the Flutter Kick Lv.3 Fit Skill, which is a great single-target Abs Fit Skill if you want one. It's just, immediately following getting it, I levelled up to level 196 and unlocked Leg Raise Lv.3, which is 130 base attack higher at 755. 

Also, there was a filler level around the Game Gyms, called Yogana, named such because Slinkbugs appeared during it, requiring me to Tree Pose. There was also an unmissable treasure chest for the Purple Sunset Smoothie recipe. Mix in two Blueberries, two Radicchio, and two Lavender, and get a ↑↑ boost to blue Fit Skill attack power and a guaranteed rush attack! (It also heals four and a half hearts.) Besides its interior treasure, I also needed to clear Yogana to get the first-half overworld treasure chest, which contained the last part of the Jungle Gator set I needed: Shoes. With all three Jungle Gator pieces together, I get to have easier jogging and knee lifts. Good, because my legs are tired and stubby.

With the optional stuff out of the way, that just leaves the remaining story levels. I must run through Judgment Pass, says Guru Andma's ghost, to reach Sir Grrus, this game's Cerberus knock-off. Despite Guru Andma specifically saying to “run”, it's a Wing Ability flying segment. Eventually, on the ground there is the Yellow Sky Smoothie recipe in a chest, which, much like the Purple Sunset Smoothie, heals 4.5 hearts, guarantees a rush attack, and increases attack power of yellow Fit Skills by ↑↑. You just need 2 Lemons, 2 Pineapples, and 2 Grapefruits.

That's it for Monday night, basically. There's a miniboss next. 

I didn't play any games again again until Thursday, for various reasons. Some relate to my mood. Others relate to religious obligations. Anyway, the miniboss level is Li'l Grrr's House. Li'l Grrr is a Dark Pitbell, and it is aided by a Dark Megaphauna+ and a Dark Protean Shaker+.  Ring realises right before we begin the battle that not only are the dead people coming to the Land of Hades, but all of the monsters we've beaten come here, too. (...But where do they go after we beat them while in the Land of Hades?)

I actually had to drink the Mixed Chard smoothie to cancel out negative status effects after the Dark Protean Shaker+ drastically reduced the power of all of my Fit Skills besides Arms, which is a horrible debuff since I only brought one Arms Fit Skill. Ha...ha... anyway, after blocking Li'l Grrr's tornado special attack, it roared at me, and Guru Andma said that it was wishing me luck against the main boss fight. Well, alright.

If this is Li'l Grrr... Well, we'll find out what Sir Grrrus looks like, won't we?

First, there's a request from the Housekeeper from before. She wants me to totally eliminate the trash in Yogana, in exchange for the level-upping Dragon Drink. Sure thing, lady! I did miss a wooden box that was on a very far-off ledge right before the river rowing section, though. Fortunately, there were 55 total wooden boxes in the course, and I had to only destroy 50 of them. (So much for “total trash elimination.”) However, immediately after clearing that, she asked me to “clear all” of the rocks that suddenly fell in Judgment Pass (for two Strength Drinks, so of course that's good). Unlike the boxes, these are unavoidable. You may think it's odd to get to the last stretch of the level with only 14 of 20 boulders smashed, but they all happen to be bunched up at the very end. Yeah, real nice level design there, nature. Got exactly 20 boulders, too? How neat.

What else is neat? The same housekeeper wants me to do yet another request, which is to go to Calm Cloister and KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM. She spotted monsters littering through the course, and of course, that means the death penalty. You know, in Hades. But I have a Passover Seder to tend to, so that'll have to wait...

You'll have to wait until...the nightfall after this nightfall.

Friday. ...Last day of the (publishing) week. I cleared Calm Cloister of littering monsters, though there wasn't any evidence that I could see that they littered anything. Still, it's a lot easier to go through that level with the Fit Skills I'd rather use (level 3 ones!). By the end, the Housekeeper promoted me to the chairman of the Beautification Committee, and we never heard from her again. In terms of a tangible reward, she gave me two Defense Drinks.

Over at the boss area—Hades Exit— the Four Masters are waiting for me. They are... the boss fight? What about Sir Grrus? The Four Masters explain they cannot leave the Land of Hades, so they're somehow going to add to my power if I can beat them all up. ...Right... This is like World 11's boss fight, except Guru Andma is here for a 1 vs. 4 instead of 1 vs. 3... and they're all spirits. Just like then, Yoga Fit Skills are pointless to bring since no one is weak to them. The Four Masters will start by making it seem like they've overcome their weaknesses:

Armando and Guru Andma have the most bulk of the four, and typical for her boss fights recently, Guru Andma will spam super attacks on her turns. (Deflecting those makes her health management easier to deal with.) Armando, Abdonis, and Allegra will also use their super attacks when they drop below half health. Since my strategy involves opening with all-range Abs Fit Skills, I got Abdonis to below half health first, and I ended up doing two Seated Forward Press defences in a row between Abdonis and Guru Andma.

It's VERY important to note that Guru Andma can't be defeated until after she goes through all three of her super attacks, meaning you must Overhead Squat twice in this boss fight. She will literally always retain 1 HP. 

Wanna know what the Fit Skill you unlock at level 200 is? Mountain Climber Lv.3. No way am I equipping that. The Four Masters, upon defeat, gave me the Galactic Jogger set (as well as best wishes). It gives you 5% more experience. I'll be wearing that, since it has much better stats than the Battle Machine set with the same bonus. I'm always fond of more experience points! Though perhaps it's too late in the game to be worried about my level.

Don't forget that I did a lot of progress towards World 22 at the end of Week 21.

 

Let's talk about Ludwig's personal weaknesses and how he is jealous like Allegra, lacking a girlfriend like Armando, is paranoid and untrusting like Abdonis, and has a fear of getting older like Guru Andma. He's totally vulnerable to dark influence. The next world is the last one... Will Ludwig be able to survive it? More importantly, will Lord Dragaux? Will Sir Grrus make an appearance in this game?


Here is Week 23... FINALIA.
World 22 gets an Extra Fitness version in World 45, and in some ways, it's even crazier than World 22.