In Grubbins on Ice, how do I win the final battle against Araxia and Big Bones?

Question

I'm at what I'm pretty sure is the final battle of Costume Quest. But it seems impossible, for a number of reasons:

• I'm up against 2 bosses simultaneously, with 4000 HP each.
• Araxia can apparently decide to become invulnerable for several turns.
• While Araxia merely hits hard, Big Bones hits like a truck, bringing the entire party down to critical levels in one attack.
• Taking Big Bones out first doesn't seem to be possible because he can't be harmed, not even with area effects.

How do I win this thing?

Answer

Araxia's the only one you can harm, so ignore Big Bones. When Araxia's flying and invulnerable, hitting him will knock him back - this is important. Winning this fight hinges on pushing him into Big Bones' candy stream.

I found this strategy/build that will probably be helpful:

• Attack costume - strongest attack stamp (Skeleton of the Wolf or such).
• Yeti costume - strongest poison stamp.
• Healer costume - Multi-Wing Bat stamp (full party regen).

With the above combo I attacked Araxia. After a few rounds of hitting him he will have candy fed to Big Bones, which will cause him to attack. You need to have the Yeti's shield up to avoid major damage. The damage increases every time Big Bones attacks, so you will be wiped out in a long battle no matter what.

(This strategy goes on to mention a bunch of things that I already said, but you can feel free to read it if you want the full picture :) )

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In Costume Quest, does making monsters flee mean lower rewards?

Question

There are some Battle Stamps and costume abilities that can terrify and cause enemies to take flight, effectively removing them from the battle immediately.

However, does this mean that you get less candy and XP at the end of the battle?

Answer

From what I remember, the candies and XP are award at the end of the battle if you have defeated your opponent, whatever the technique you use!

So you don't have a lower reward if you're making monsters flee during the battle. You'll get the same thing at the end provided you win.

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Is it possible to win the first fight in Grubbins on Ice?

Question

After completing Costume Quest's main story line, I just lost the very first fight of the Grubbins on Ice expansion. The enemies do an insane amount of damage, and it doesn't look like you can pick your costumes and Battle Stamps either.

However, after having been defeated, I got a little cutscene of my party being shoved off a cliff, and the game continued, so clearly the game expected me to lose. I didn't lose by a lot, though.

So, is it possible to win this first fight, and what happens if you do?

Answer

I lost this battle like you did, and I believe it's intentional that you lose. The story carries on from there. However, some people have reported winning it, and the game just carries on the same way as before.

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How can I get to the coffin inside the giant pumpkin?

Question

I've recently gotten past the first section of the Autumn Haven Mall, reaching the area which contains shops that you can trick-or-treat (as opposed to the initial "under construction" section).

In that very area, the one containing the bobbing for apples mini-game and the costume contest, there is a giant pumpkin with a coffin in its mouth located at the lower left corner (I'd take a screenshot if I could).

How am I supposed to reach that coffin? Do I need to make use of a costume I still do not have access to?

Answer

You have to drop down from a higher level into it, if we're talking about the same giant pumpkin with a coffin in it. Check out this video at about 1:40 in:

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Are there actual consequences for being defeated?

Question

I just got my butt handed to me after fighting a group of three monsters, all of which were pretty keen on beating up just one of the kids in my party. I didn't stand much of a chance after said kid was put out of commission, so I ran away, at which point the game informed me that I had been defeated.

The thing is, there didn't seem to be any adverse effect to my loss, as everything appeared just as it was before the battle. Am I missing something, or is there no downside to losing (other than my shattered pride)? Does it make a difference if you run away or are defeated completely?

Answer

Nope, there are no penalties for losing. (A couple of reviews seem to confirm this) I seem to remember there being a boss fight or two where you'd be heckled, but otherwise you can lose as often as you want.

The game's aimed at a younger audience, and it's fairly casual on the whole, so there not being any penalties for losing a battle is not that unusual.

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Can I do anything with my spare Swedish nose?

Question

I originally picked up Costume Quest because I thought it would appeal to my wife, but have recently started playing it myself (seeing how I was wrong).

So I've been running around Auburn Pines beating monsters and collecting Creepy Treats. So far, I've managed to trade all of my redundant cards with kids I met around the neighborhood, with the exception of an excess Swedish nose.

Since I highly doubt that I was simply lucky enough to pick up duplicate cards that the other kids just happened to need, I suspect that the cards collected are in fact predetermined. This leads me to believe that I am supposed to do something with that spare nose, and I don't want to miss my chance once I go through the gate that opened now that I have trick-or-treated all of the houses.

So am I reading too much into this, or is there some kid I missed that I could trade the extra nose with?

Answer

In order to finish the game and get all the achievements/trophies/whatever, the spare swedish nose is of no importance. It is simply an extra nose.

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Does playing Costume Quest on Halloween (Oct 31st) do anything different?

Question

It just occurred to me, but is there anything different in Costume Quest when actually playing on Halloween (Oct 31)?

Answer

I never heard anything about it! It could have been extremely good idea for cons!

If I rely on the official website, no relative information to your question is written.

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How do I find all the houses in Auburn Pines?

Question

I've trick-or-treated 18/20 houses in Auburn Pines, but I cannot for the life of me seem to find the other two. (This is in the PC version of Costume Quest.)

I know the game has no map in it, but does anyone know of a map someone's made with the houses' locations?

Alternatively, is there some task I haven't yet completed that would give me access to the houses I haven't found? Or are some of the houses in a non-obvious place (not reachable from the road, for example)?

Here are the quests I've completed so far:

• Robot Repair
• Programmed for Protection
• Pie for the Putterpam
• The Patriot's Party
• Auburn Pines Hide 'n' Seek
• This Card is so Rare
• 2/3 Bobbing For Apples Tiers

I have all three Costume Patterns available in Auburn Pines.

Answer

As far as i remember, there's no houses off road! The only tasks that can give you acces to houses is the ones you have to complete for a character that don't want you to pass until you finish his request.

To be sure you haven't missed any houses, look if the lights are on. If they are, you haven't knock at that door. In the other hand, lights off means you have knock at this house.

Completing the Bobbing for Apples quest will only give you the Sweet Tooth Creepy Treat Card.

Here they are:

2 on your left of your house on the same street.



If you take the street that goes to the park (right street from your house), there's 4 houses (2 on the left of the street, 2 on the right);



If you take the street that goes to the graveyard (left street from your house), there's 4 houses (2 on the left of the street, 2 on the right);



On the horizontal street at the bottom of the park, there's 5 houses (left side of the park: 2 at the top of the street; right side of the park: 1 at the top of the street and 2 at the bottom);



On the horizontal street at the top of the park, there's 5 houses (1 at the bottom on the left extremity, 3 at the top of the street and the last at the right extremity).

I hope that this might help ;)

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Running Costume Quest in Windowed Mode

Question

I play a lot of "casual games" (think Diner Dash), and they all feature a way in their in-game options to run the game in windowed mode.

I bought Costume Quest yesterday for PC from Steam, and wanted to run it in windowed mode, however, unlike other games I play, I cannot find a way to tell the game to run in windowed mode.

Is there just a setting I am missing? Or is it something Steam doesn't allow?

Answer

You should be able to run Costume Quest in windowed mode by setting launch parameters.

To do that in Steam, open your Steam library, right-click on Costume Quest, select Properties, and press the Set Launch Options… button. Enter –window and click OK. The game will now launch and stay in windowed mode until you remove this from your launch options.

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Can I go back to complete quests in Costume Quest?

Question

I'm playing Costume Quest, and I'm up to the Mall. I just looked at my quest log and realised that I missed one of the hide-and-seekers in Suburbia. Gah.

Will there be any opportunity to revisit the area and obtain missed quests? Or would I have to start a new save to do so?

(Note: I'm playing this on PC, I don't think it's relevant but I thought I'd point it out.)

Answer

You will be able to go back - at the end of each area there is a teleport coffin that will allow you to go back to areas you have already been to.

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