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

After a lengthy ascension through the Crystal Tower, you’ll come face-to-face with the guardian of the stage — the Chimera. Chimera has always been a staple boss in Final Fantasy, being particularly difficult to handle due to its multi-attack capabilities and heavily damaging AoE attacks. The Chimera in Stranger of Paradise is no different: with a devastating Phase 2 designed to test your ability to parry, Chimera can be an annoying boss for many. Here’s how to defeat the Chimera in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

The Chimera has multiple attacks with decent wind-up and telegraphing, but failure to respect said attacks will result in heavy damage. Of particular note is its capability to attack twice at once, with the Snake tail acting as a support/status annoyance, while the Lion head focuses on damage. Here are all of the attacks in Phase 1:

• Basic Attacks: In addition to a three-hit combo, the Chimera can turn on a dime and smash a target behind or to its sides. It is best to attack a few times at max and prepare for a counter-attack, as the telegraphs for the counter-attack are not very lengthy. Finally, during a regular three-hit combo, the Snake Tail can also sneak in a hit every now and then, further reducing your Break Gauge.
• Body Slam: After a pretty lengthy animation, the Chimera will leap up and slam in a targeted area. This attack can be parried.
• Earthbreaker: After flying up into the air and hovering, the Chimera will crash down onto the ground, causing Earth damage in an area around it. This attack cannot be parried and must be dodged.
• Dark Breath and Silencing Stare: The boss will shoot forward a breath of darkness, dealing damage and adding to your Elemental Vulnerability to darkness as well. In addition, the Snake Tail will attempt to Silence you, preventing the use of actions and spells. The Snake Tail can use Silencing Stare independently of Dark Breath at random as well.
• Divebomb: After flying up into the air, the Chimera will spin towards a target, tackling them for massive damage. This attack cannot be parried.
• Thunder Roar: After roaring, Chimera will launch waves of electricity in a cross pattern around it. This attack can be parried.
• Snake Breath: The Snake Tail will emit a wave of poison in a cone behind the Chimera — while this can happen independently, it also can be used in conjunction with Dark Breath or Thunder Roar.
• Dark Cannon: Usable in the air or on the ground, the Chimera will launch an orb towards a target. This attack can be parried, and also Stolen as an instant command.
• Stone Gaze: The Snake Tail will attempt to petrify targets directly behind the Chimera. This will prevent all movement and actions for a set period of time, or until receiving an attack.
• Thunderous Deluge: After a slight animation, the Chimera will emit massive waves of electricity in all directions. This attack can be parried.

The trick to Chimera, like many bosses, is recognizing when it’s your turn to attack. Many of Chimera’s breath attacks and wave attacks have hefty recovery animations attached to it, allowing for you and your allies to get in several combos. Recognizing when your turn has ended and backing off is important to surviving this fight. After ripping the Chimera’s wings off, you’d think he’d be easier in Phase 2 — and you’d be wrong. In it’s place, multiple heads appear, adding to the Chimera’s already formidable arsenal:

• Flame Breath: One of the new heads, either Goat or Dragon, will emit a shot of flame at a target independently of any other attack. This attack can be parried and Stolen as an instant command.
• Aqua Breath: The Dragon head will emit a wave of water in an conal area around the Chimera. This attack can be parried, but the attack persists for a few seconds, so multiple parries may be necessary.
• Dragon Bite: The Dragon head will lash out independently dealing strike damage at a target. This attack cannot be parried.
• Thundara: Chimera will summon three waves of lightning at a target’s location. This attack can be parried and Stolen as an instant action.
• Deadly Chorus: Chimera and it’s many heads will strike out all at once, doing random breath attacks in a 360 degree radius around it. This attack persists for several seconds and covers a huge chunk of the arena, but it is able to be parried with proper timing.
• Regenerate: After taking significant damage, the Chimera will cast a Regen-like effect on itself. This attack can be interrupted with heavy enough damage.
• Sorcerous Torrent: Chimera and it’s many heads will do a serious of attacks at once: Aqua Breath in a 360 degree around it, Meteor in a diagonal pattern around it, and Thunder Roar in a cross pattern around it. The Meteors are small, and so the trick to avoiding this is to parry or stand diagonally away from the boss.

Chimera’s attack tempo skyrockets in Phase 2, with the multiple heads often attacking in between combos to chain them together. The Phase 1 moves, sans flying attacks, are all here as well. Thankfully, Chimera still staggers as easy as in Phase 1, so heavy weaponry and consistent attacks will lead to him crumpling for a short time. Deadly Chorus and Sorcerous Torrent get used quite often, so be ready to parry — don’t just mindlessly chain together combos and expect not to get punished.