I completed the entire story on Jedi Grandmaster without taking damage. My thoughts on the game, it's mechanic, and this challenge. AMA :) [Minor Spoilers]

Preface:

My name is Hayete and I hold multiple world records in Jedi Fallen Order and over 3000 hours in that game. I completed 100% Jedi Grandmaster No Damage Feb 2021 and Jedi Grandmaster No Skills/Upgrades/Resting No Damage Aug 2021. To say I was excited to get my hands on Jedi Survivor would be a HUGE understatement. Jedi Survivor as many of you who have played it will know is much larger and, as a results of that, much more complex. Naturally with the release of the game I was going to see what I could do to put together a run through the story without taking damage on Jedi Grandmaster. 17 days and 170 hours after release and it’s done. I completed the game on Jedi Grandmaster without taking damage. What follows is my opinion on the game, it’s mechanics and this challenge. The good, the bad and my top tips and observations. For those of you that take time to read this or ask questions, thank you. I hope both this post and the run itself is able to help someone out there enjoy the game a little more than before. Thanks again for reading!

Ruleset:

The criteria for this run was player health could not fall below 100% (No Damage) other than the unavoidable force pull damage that results from the transition during the Darth Vader boss fight between Phase 1 to Phase 2 and Phase 2 to Phase 3. The entire game had to be completed on Jedi Grandmaster difficulty and could not be adjusted beyond the main menu when starting a new playthrough. At no time during the run were restarts or reloads allowed if damage was taken. If any of these conditions were not met a COMPLETE restart of the game was required.  

The Good:

  • Varied Combat!  With different stances and the ability to customize your load (sabers, blaster shots, perks, etc.) The game has SO MUCH more depth to it and allows players to really discover and express their favorite approach and style.
  • Platforming/Traversal: One of the hardest parts about playing Jedi Fallen Order and doing no damage attempts in it was the amount of failed runs due to bugging off a wall run, glitching through a rope swing, randomly falling through the environment, etc. Thankfully platforming and traversal in Jedi Survivor is so incredibly polished and rightly so. Jedi Survivor has some of the most memorable platforming sequences (you know the one I’m thinking of) both in the main game and various Force Tears. A very welcomed addition to the Jedi series.
  • Abilities: While at least half of the abilities in the game are more for show than practical approaches to combat I have to give the game it’s due credit. Abilities in Jedi Survivor feel like that really do give each Saber stance an identity. That’s a very welcomed change from Jedi Fallen Order’s very linear approach of Single Saber for one target and Double Saber for multiple ranged enemies.

The Bad:

  • Double Dodge: The Double Dodge “Dodge Roll” from Jedi Fallen Order is a thing of the past, replaced with a slightly longer second dash. The Double Dodge in Survivor lacks smoothness and a lot of the time will set you up for failure since the end of the ability staggers the player momentarily before you can move. In Fallen Order the dodge roll would also allow the player to maintain their attack distance to their target (when target locked) which is no longer the case with the Double Dodge. While it is a functional dodge system and very capable of responding to the attacks of all enemies in the game it just feels clunky, weighted and, in a word, bad when compared to the Dodge Roll of Fallen Order.
  • Input Issues: Whether it’s input delay or having an action done twice (like jump or dodge) when you, the player, didn’t want that, is painful at times. I’m not sure what the root cause is or how to fix it but wanting to jump once and not Jedi Flip and having your input recognized twice and Jedi Flipping early which results in missing a wall run, falling off the map, and taking damage feels terrible. While this is a rare occurrence, when it does happen, it’s absolutely frustrating.

Tips/Tricks/Observations:

  • Blaster Stance Skill ‘Quick Draw’ is ABSOLUTELY the most broken and overpowered ability in the game. This ability requires only one ammo to use and DOES NOT use Force even though it drains force to zero. While this is likely unintended and could be patched in future updates, for now, it makes many things in the game laughable and is highly exploitable.
  • Companions only work, and will engage in combat, when within a certain distance of Cal. You can use this to your advantage in many situations to force your companion to engage in combat while you maintain a safe position beyond the reach of the enemy.
  • Jedi Survivor has a “stealth” mechanic that Fallen Order did not have. As long as you’re not sprinting you can walk/jog up behind any enemy and attack it for massive damage. This is also great for skipping enemies altogether in certain situations.
  • Jedi Flip (Double Jump) allows you to auto deflect shots as long as you were sprinting prior to using the ability. This is another fantastic option when trying to avoid having your guard broken from the massive amount of ranged blaster fire that you’ll often face in Survivor.
  • Once you acquire the Dash ability you can press jump and dash together over and over to execute ‘Chain Dashing’ which is amazing for getting around faster and very practical for fast repositioning during both boss fights and other open world combat encounters.

TLDR:

After 170 hours of attempts I managed to complete the entire story on Jedi Grandmaster Difficulty without taking damage. Amazing game and exceptional combat. Feel free to ask me anything about the game or this run :)

EDIT: Thank you to those that stopped by my Twitch to ask questions and say congrats!
EDIT: The run linked includes full commentary. I explain strategies, how to do them, why I'm doing things, why I'm getting certain perks/skills, etc. If you're having issues with a section I've likely already explained it in the VOD