I discovered something useful that may help others, particularly when using Battler's Blade.  If you play like I do, you probably keep the "sprint" button pushed down most of the time.  I have discovered that you get different attacks while sprinting though, and that you won't be able to evade/parry, or combo into other attacks while sprinting. (side note, the "heavy" attack performed while sprinting is almost useless.  It is a lunge that is hard to hit with.)

Try it out for yourself.  If you attack while sprinting, no amount of button mashing will cause a second attack.  You will stand there completely vulnerable, unable to move or defend yourself.  This is especially bad when using Battler's Blade, for obvious reasons.  However, if you let off the sprint button right before you hit the attack button, you will be able to combo normally or interrupt with evades/parries, whatever. 

To sum up, either don't sprint, or get in the habit of letting off the sprint button right before you make an attack.

This is real something useful. The sprint attack usually messes up everything. BTW, I saw from your gamercard that you had completed chapter FIEND'S PATH with Rank A+. Is there any advice you could give me on how to get A+ on challenge one? I can pass the stage with Battler's Blade, but always with a B or lower. I usually don't go for the Dragon Statue when the stage begins, because I think it's almost impossible to kill so many baddies in such a small area. So I don't have enough Dismemberments. But even if I use other weapons and kill all the ones in that hole, I still can't get the X2 multiplier on Dismemberment. Seems a bit off topic. Thanks in advance. EDIT: Sorry that I didn't notice that you did have the A+ achievement on FIEND'S PATH yet. Any idea will still be appreciated.

 JieXY wrote:

This is real something useful. The sprint attack usually messes up everything. BTW, I saw from your gamercard that you had completed chapter FIEND'S PATH with Rank A+. Is there any advice you could give me on how to get A+ on challenge one? I can pass the stage with Battler's Blade, but always with a B or lower. I usually don't go for the Dragon Statue when the stage begins, because I think it's almost impossible to kill so many baddies in such a small area. So I don't have enough Dismemberments. But even if I use other weapons and kill all the ones in that hole, I still can't get the X2 multiplier on Dismemberment. Seems a bit off topic. Thanks in advance. EDIT: Sorry that I didn't notice that you did have the A+ achievement on FIEND'S PATH yet. Any idea will still be appreciated.

Yeah, I'm still working on that one.  I'll let you know if I find anything!

 JieXY wrote:

This is real something useful. The sprint attack usually messes up everything. BTW, I saw from your gamercard that you had completed chapter FIEND'S PATH with Rank A+. Is there any advice you could give me on how to get A+ on challenge one? I can pass the stage with Battler's Blade, but always with a B or lower. I usually don't go for the Dragon Statue when the stage begins, because I think it's almost impossible to kill so many baddies in such a small area. So I don't have enough Dismemberments. But even if I use other weapons and kill all the ones in that hole, I still can't get the X2 multiplier on Dismemberment. Seems a bit off topic. Thanks in advance. EDIT: Sorry that I didn't notice that you did have the A+ achievement on FIEND'S PATH yet. Any idea will still be appreciated.

I managed to unlock A+ on Fiend's Path last night.  I played on Brutal difficulty and got all the bonuses.  As you mention, the tricky part was getting enough kills qualify for the 'dismemberment'  bonus.  I played through it several times and usually came up just short.  But for whatever reason, on one attempt when I got through the area with the dragon statue, I came out with 30 dismemberments, which put me well on my way towards the total needed to get the bonus.   The only thing I can think of that might have made a difference was actually countering some of the attacks in that area, as opposed to simply hacking and slashing through with the instant kill.  I ended with over 50 kills, well in excess of the required number.

Something else to keep in mind is the fact that you don't get a credit for putting down a hellhound or devil dog or whatever by throwing the golden axe, but you do if you use fire magic, so that might help put you over the top.

I just have one more achievement left, Titan Wastelands, and just the last map in that level at that...

Yes you are right. In my final attempt I managed to pull off a Brutal Counter in that small hole and killed several baddies at once. However, what I used was the Mace with the ability to open beast chest and 50% attack bonus. By doing this, I lost the Damage Taken bonus but with a higher chance to get more dismemberments and to get the several beast chests containing lots of tributes before the end of the level, which also helped me get a A+ ranking. One thing I don't understand is why sometimes I did exactly what I did before, but got a different dismemberment count by a whole lot... Anyway, good luck to you on getting the last A+ and we surely played out this game...