The Cursed Crusade Trophy Guide & Road Map

The Cursed Crusade
The Cursed Crusade Trophy Guide

Overview:
-Estimated trophy difficulty: 3 (personal estimate; there are only 3 votes in the poll so far)
-Offline: Gold Trophy 4 Silver Trophy 8 Bronze Trophy 30
-Online: 0
-Approximate amount of time to Platinum Trophy : 15-20 hours
-Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2
-Number of missable trophies: 0 (chapter select)
-Glitched trophies: 0
-Does difficulty affect trophies?: Yes (the game must be completed on Nightmare difficulty)
-Do cheat codes disable trophies?: No cheats.

Introduction

Welcome to the "bro-mance" that is The Cursed Crusade: players follow Denz de Bayle and Esteban Noviembre as they hack'n'slash their way across Europe and the Middle East at the end of the twelfth century in pursuit of the secrets behind the hereditary curse that plagues them both; perhaps Denz's missing father holds the answer...

The player takes the role of Denz, and the game offers co-op play with either a human or AI-controlled partner in the role of Esteban; gameplay is based around melee combat with some supernatural elements thrown into the mix.

Step One: play through the game on Crusader difficulty and find all collectibles

The hardest difficulty - Nightmare - is locked from the start; Crusader is the easiest difficulty, but completing the game on this difficulty will unlock Nightmare. Once the game has been completed on Crusader, simply choose to replay all chapters via chapter select on Nightmare.

There is a reason to play the game on the easiest available difficulty rather than the hardest available difficulty in order to get prepared for Nightmare, and that reason is that the game has very few checkpoints, and it becomes frustrating enough on Crusader to feel like a challenge. You're going to want to find all the collectibles during this playthrough, and you're going to take some time getting used to the very stodgy controls; you're also going to find several parts of the game - primarily some boss fights - to be quite infuriating even on the easiest difficulty until you figure out a few tricks; doing all of these things while playing on a harder difficulty is very quickly going to feel like a chore, so I highly recommend saving yourself the grief and playing on easy.

During your first playthrough you will unlock all trophies except One-Man Army (and one of the related trophies for upgrading character statistics) and The Cursed Templar.

Step Two: complete the game on Nightmare difficulty

The game on Nightmare difficulty will actually - and perversely - be easier than your first playthrough on Crusader. There are two reasons for this: the first reason is that all of your upgrades - to your character's personal statistics and weapon techniques - carry over to a second playthrough via chapter select; the second reason is that your cohort, Esteban, when controlled as an AI, is practically invulnerable: if The Cursed Crusade were a shooter, Esteban would be what is known as a "bullet-sponge" - it is nearly impossible for him to go down, and this fact makes him an invaluable resource.

It is therefore highly recommended - due to Esteban's near invulnerability as an AI - that if you want to play the game with another person that you do so on your first playthrough; playing through Nightmare with two human players is going to be a fast-track to frustration.

A word about Victory Points

Each mission of the game automatically rewards you with 4 Victory Points upon completion; 1 of these Victory Points is allotted towards your character statistics, while the other three are allotted towards your weapon techniques; these points can then be spent in the upgrade menu that follows each mission. Additionally, finding all of the collectibles in a level will give you 1 extra point per collectible type, and these extra points (between 1-3) are only allotted for weapon techniques.

The upgrades unlock new combos for the variety of weapons that you wield in the game, and also upgrade your character's statistics like Constitution (health), Armor Mastery (increases the amount of armour you wear, and therefore the amount of damage you can take before your health is affected by attacks), etc. All of these upgrades can be carried over to your Nightmare playthrough, and Victory Points can only be earned on your first playthrough (on whichever difficulty) and your Nightmare playthrough.

A word about tactics

Here are the basic rules of the game: hit an enemy with a weapon; the more you use the weapon the quicker it deteriorates until finally it breaks; armoured enemies cause more wear and tear on your weapons; a broken weapon can still be used to attack but not for anything else (like blocking, finishing moves, etc.). Got all that? With those basic rules in mind, there is a very straightforward way of quickly and easily progressing through most enemy encounters, especially on Nightmare difficulty...

Whenever a fight is about to start, follow these basic steps: wait for the enemy to attack, parry the attack ( R2 Button ), activate your curse ( L1 Button - the curse makes you move faster, inflict more damage, and increases the odds of successfully activating a finishing move), and get a fast combo in against the enemy. What you're trying to do is to activate a finishing move which will trigger an animation that cannot be interrupted; if you trigger such a move, immediately deactivate your curse ( L1 Button again), wait for the animation to end, then repeat the same process: parry, activate curse, quick counter-strikes, finishing animation, deactivate curse during the animation. This makes quick work of enemies and keeps your curse meter constantly charged. With all weapon techniques fully unlocked and your character's statistics completely buffed, this process will make short work of almost all regular encounters on Nightmare.

And before ending the roadmap, I'll just say a brief word about tactics relating to bosses: quite simply, DO NOT do what the game wants you to do! During almost every boss fight the game will prompt you to employ a co-op attack that will quickly become the bane of your existence - it does little damage, it leaves you vulnerable to attack, and successful attacks against you will interrupt it; it's frankly close to useless. The solution? Physical attacks. Every single boss in the game can be taken out (even on Nightmare difficulty) by simply getting behind him (the boss) and relentlessly pummeling him with physical attacks; I spent up to 15 minutes at a stretch not defeating certain bosses using the tactics the game prompted me to use, while simply attacking the boss melee-style ended almost all boss fights in only a minute or two. Again: unless you have no choice (there are some instances where bosses must first be attacked from afar in order to be able to physically attack them), do not use the co-op attacks against bosses.

Well, that's about it for the Roadmap. For tips on a couple of "trouble spots" that have no trophies related to them, please see the first post following the guide, "A word about trouble spots". Good luck...

[PS3T Would Like to Thank Mitsuru Kirijo for this Roadmap]

Symphony of Hell

Get all the trophies of The Cursed Crusade!
Self-explanatory: the light at the end of the tunnel - unlock all other trophies in the game to unlock this, the platinum trophy.
We Are the Champions, My Friend

Win the Tournament of Ecry.
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

Chapter 1, mission 3, consists entirely of the Tournament in question; the tournament is divided into 4 fights preceded by 4 tutorials; the first 3 fights are easy on any difficulty and simply require you to defeat 2 enemies in each fight.

The fourth fight will be against Baudoin de Flandre and his aide; you will have to defeat him and his aide with a broken sword, which is actually easier than it sounds: simply wait for him to start his attack animation, move to the side and launch into an attack by spamming the button - your attacks will come too fast for him to do anything about and it's easy to get him caught in a combo on any difficulty.

Defeat him and a second stage begins: you will have to defeat three soldiers, then defeat de Flandre and his aide again. Defeat the first soldier and pick up his sword, and defeating the remaining enemies with an actually intact weapon is quite easy.

A third stage will then begin, with de Flandre activating his curse, and forcing you to defeat him and his aide once more. Again, this is quite easy on any difficulty: simply attack him and keep your combo going: attacks with one or two swords will keep him off-balance and make short work of him.
A Templar Rides into a Forest...

Clear 'Forest Roads' in any difficuty setting.
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

Chapter 1, mission 5; the cut-scenes are longer than the actual fight.

Baudoin de Flandre, again. On their way to joining the crusaders, Denz and Esteban encounter de Flandre and several of his men. And, again, like pretty much all the boss fights, non-stop aggression is the way to win: ignore de Flandre's soldiers and simply open up on him; it's always a good idea to get off to the side of the boss, or behind him, in order to avoid him parrying any of your attacks, but apart from that slight concern, this fight will be over in less than a minute if you simply tear into him with constant attacks.
Slow and Steady

Clear 'The Road to the Peninsula' without losing any of the soldiers pushing the ballista.
This is a story-related event that occurs in chapter 2, mission 4: after fighting a few enemies and breaking through a heavy gate, Denz and Esteban will be tasked with guarding the ballista in question.

By "any" in the trophy description is actually meant "two": there are only two soldiers pushing the ballista, and either of them dying will prevent you from unlocking this trophy. Luckily it's quite easy to keep them alive: you'll have to make your way through 3 areas, but the ballista will actually be out of harm's way for most of those sections as you'll spend most of your time leaving it in safety while you go on ahead to open the next gate for it.

Only the first section really poses any threat to the soldiers pushing the ballista: you will face about 15 enemies at intervals, they will come from two different directions, and will head straight for the ballista. Simply activate your Curse by pushing in order to quickly get to them and neutralize them.

The second and third sections have you facing about 13 soldiers and 18 soldiers respectively, but most of those soldiers will be faced prior to opening the gate for the ballista, meaning that the ballista will be safe. Also, the first section is the only section where the enemies will be right on top of you; in sections 2 and 3, the enemies come at you from afar, and only from one direction, so running ahead of the ballista in order to take them out will prevent them from getting anywhere near the ballista or the soldiers pushing it.

If you've been successful, the trophy will unlock as the ballista rolls up to the final gate.
Make the Voices Stop

Clear 'The Fall of Zara' in any difficulty setting.
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

Chapter 2, mission 8: you will make your way through the castle of Zara in completely linear fashion; you'll alternate between fighting waves of ground enemies and archers as you progress, but you'll never fight more than 3 enemies at a time, and all are easily taken care of on any difficulty. On nightmare difficulty, though, be aware of the fact that armoured archers will require 2 arrows to kill, and that a couple of hits from their arrows can decimate your armour, so don't just stand there after firing an arrow - take cover or move around while you reload.

When you reach the end of the level you'll have a boss fight against Ladislaus that will unfold over 3 stages: the first stage has you fighting Ladislaus and a couple of his men; the soldiers won't respawn, so if they're causing you grief take them out before focusing on Ladislaus. Be careful with Ladislaus in this stage: he wields a mace and an axe, meaning that with one hand he can destroy your armour and then inflict some pretty steep damage with the other. Also, he will be able to parry almost any direct attack, so either wait for him to engage Estaban and attack him from behind, or wait until he begins an attack and try to get around him before attacking him yourself.

Once he's damaged enough, the second stage will begin: the curse is activated and Ladislaus splits into a blue and orange soul; each one wields only one weapon, though, so they're quite easy to take out with a constant barrage of frontal attacks. After defeating the two souls, "reality" will return and you'll have to face Ladislaus again. There are no soldiers to help him this time around, so a good idea is to simply move away from him and shoot him from distance with your bow while he fights Esteban.

Damage him enough and you'll have to defeat the blue and orange souls again, then Ladislaus in "reality" once more. The same tactics as above apply.
A Change of Perspective

Clear 'The Capitolium' in any difficulty setting.
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

Chapter 3, mission 9: again, you follow a very linear path; defeat a couple of archers, then a trio of soldiers, make your way into the sewer where you'll have to activate your Curse in order to progress, then re-emerge above ground where you'll face a few more soldiers. Breaking one of the walls in the area you're in will trigger a series of cut scenes that will lead to the boss fight against Boniface de Montferrat.

When the boss fight starts, Montferrat will have several soldiers to help him; the tight quarters and the fact that anytime you get near Montferrat a prompt to use the co-op fire move will appear make this one of the more irritating fights in the game. It might be worth your time trying to take out the soldiers before turning your attention on Montferrat - to do this, try to get as far away from Montferrat as possible and take out the guards as quickly as you can. If you don't want to deal with the guards, then try to get behind Montferrat as he will otherwise parry all of your direct attacks.

On Nightmare difficulty this fight can be easily won by getting rid of a couple of soldiers and moving away from Montferrat; if he starts fighting Esteban, you're in good shape: Esteban is practically invulnerable on Nightmare, and if you can get Montferrat to attack him and move in from behind you should be able to catch him up in a combo that will stun him long enough to quickly take him down.
Innocent Blood

Defend Constantinople's civilians!
A vague and somewhat misleading trophy description; in chapter 4, mission 2, "The Forum of Constantine", you will enter a massive open area where several civilians are being attacked by soldiers; as the trophy description says, it's your task to protect them; but this would seem to be an unmissable trophy rather than a trophy that requires a certain number of civilians be saved. On my first playthrough, I took my sweet time getting to the civilians because I was also hunting collectibles, so around half of the civilians that could have been saved actually died, and the trophy still unlocked.

At any rate, once you enter the open area, you will come across a number of civilians being attacked; getting within a certain range of the civilian will trigger the attack to begin; if you want to save as many civilians as possible, enter Curse mode by pressing - which gives you greater speed -, dash to the scene of the crime and defeat the soldier(s).

Regardless of how many civilians you actually "save", the trophy should unlock once you destroy the final gate of the open area and move on to the final stage of the level.
Demon Slayer

Clear 'Hagia Sophia Basilica' in any difficulty setting.
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

You discover that Boniface de Montferrat (the villian of the piece) can now summon the giant demons - one of which you faced in "The Augustaion" - without the Curse being activated. In this mission, you will have to defeat three of them, though not simultaneously, and not in direct combat.

In 3 of the basilica's corners, there are massive chandeliers with a circular area beneath each one; run to a chandelier and the demon you're facing will follow; once the demon is standing on the circular area, attack its legs and it will fall; now run back down the hallway you just came from to find a switch and activate it by pressing - this will cause the chandelier to fall on top of the demon and kill it; repeat this process twice more for the remaining two demons.
Unstoppable

Perform a 50 hit combo.
Please see End of the Chain for more information.
End of the Chain

Perform a 100 hit combo.
(1)
You can achieve both of these combo trophies quite easily in chapter 2, mission 6, "The Five Wells of Zara". The chapter consists of a boss fight in 3 stages: in Curse mode, you must defeat all of the unpurified souls in the area in order to return to "reality" and be able to damage the boss; after a certain amount of damage, the Curse will be re-activated and you will have to repeat the process.

During any stage of the Curse, purify all but one of the souls, then attack the boss - he can't be injured while the Curse is active, so you can pummel him all you like without risk of killing him; also, if you're doing this on Crusader difficulty, any of your combos should stun him and enable you get the 50 and 100 hits without any interruption.

If you're playing on a harder difficulty, be mindful of his attacks and press when he glows blue in order to counter any of his strikes. Remember that if you go for any amount of time without landing a hit, your hit counter will start to decrease rather than reset.

Here's a video showing how to get these trophies (thanks to jaycee_88):
Deflection Master

Deflect 30 attacks with the Deflection Counter!
This can be done in the second tutorial of chapter 1, mission 3, "The Tournament of Ecry".

When an enemy is about to attack you he will glow blue; pressing will deflect the incoming attack and allow you to counter with an attack of your own by pressing or . The second tutorial during the tournament focuses on the Deflection Counter; after practicing the move a couple of times you will be told that you can end practice by pressing ; ignore this and simply keep practicing the move until the trophy unlocks.
Evasive Maneuvers

Dodge 30 Guard Breaks!
This can be done in the third tutorial of chapter 1, mission 3, "The Tournament of Ecry".

When an enemy is about to break your guard he will glow orange; press to dodge the guard break. The third tutorial during the tournament focuses on dodging the Guard Break; after practicing the move a couple of times you will be told that you can end practice by pressing ; ignore this and simply keep practicing the move until the trophy unlocks.
That Man's On Fire

Acquire the power Purifying Fire!
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

You will unlock this power in chapter 1, mission 6, "Nightmare I"; hold + to target a single enemy or object with a powerful flame. Please see Maelstrom of Fire for more information.
Roar of Flames

Acquire the power Roaring Flames!
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

You will unlock this power in chapter 2, mission 9, "Nightmare II"; hold + in order to fire a long-ranged flame attack. Please see Maelstrom of Fire for more information.
Maelstrom of Fire

Acquire the power Fire Maelstrom!
This is story-related and cannot be missed.

You will unlock this power in chapter 3, mission 10, "Nightmare III"; hold + in order to unleash a weak wave of fire that can target multiple enemies.

All of the Nightmare chapters in which you unlock the three fire-based powers unfold in the same manner: you appear in a hellish world, must defeat several unpurified souls as you make your way to an area blocked by a large door; it is in this area that you will be granted one of the three powers. You will have to defeat several more unpurified souls after receiving the power, destroy the door, then advance to a boss fight with Death.

Although the trophies are for acquiring the powers and not defeating Death, I'll just say a word about the boss fights themselves: you will be prompted in each fight to use a fire-based co-op ability with your partner; as with almost every other boss fight in the game DO NOT use that ability unless you have to (ie. the boss is out of reach and must be damaged from afar); as soon as you are able to physically attack Death do so, and ignore any prompts to use your co-op ability. Every boss in the game is more easily defeated by simply pummeling them with physical attacks than by using the co-op move that the game wants you to employ; in fact, the co-op move frequently leaves you and your partner open to physical attacks, is interrupted by those physical attacks, and takes for ever to actually inflict any kind of damage; repeated physical attacks can frequently end boss fights in less than a minute.
Live by the Sword

Master the One-Handed Sword!
This requires 7 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Hatchet Man

Master the One-Handed Axe!
This requires 10 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Mace Effect

Master the One-Handed Mace!
This requires 5 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Knight in Shining Armor

Master the Sword and Shield technique!
This requires 7 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
...And My Axe!

Master the Axe and Shield technique!
This requires 12 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Classic Cleric

Master the Mace and Shield technique!
This requires 8 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Overcompensating

Master the Two-Handed Sword!
This requires 16 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Timber!

Master the Two-Handed Axe!
(1)
This requires 10 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Saint Longinus

Master the Spear!
This requires 9 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Greek Poetry in Motion

Master the Spear and Shield technique!
This requires 10 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
What's Better Than One Sword?

Master the Double Sword technique!
This requires 11 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Axes of Evil

Master the Double Axe technique!
This requires 10 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Blunt Trauma

Master the Double Mace technique!
This requires 10 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Cutsman

Master the Sword and Axe technique!
This requires 9 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Offense is the Best Defense

Master the Sword and Mace technique!
This requires 11 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Unconventional Assault

Master the Axe and Mace technique!
This requires 10 Victory Points; please see Master of War for more information.
Master of War

Master all the martial techniques!
In order to acquire weapon techniques you simply need to have the specific weapon or weapons in your inventory once: so, pick up a spear, say, and you will acquire the spear technique; if a technique requires more than one weapon then you will have to have both weapons simultaneously in your inventory in order to unlock the technique: if you want to unlock the technique for the double-mace, for example, you would have to have two maces in your inventory at the same time. After acquiring a technique you don't need to keep the required weapon or even use it: simply pick up the weapon(s) once and the technique is yours.

In order to master all weapon techniques you need to unlock all possible combos for each weapon or set of weapons; in order to unlock combos you need to spend Victory Points, which are rewarded at the end of each mission.

Each mission in the game guarantees you 4 Victory Points simply for completing it - 1 point is allotted towards your character statistics, while the remaining 3 are allotted towards your weapon techniques; additionally, most missions in the game offer a chance to gain an extra 2-3 Victory Points if you find all of the collectibles within the mission (coffers, Blood Crucifixes, unpurified souls), and any of those extra points that are earned are also allotted towards your weapon techniques.

Unlocking all combos for all weapons will cost you 155 Victory Points; there are approximately 32 missions in the game that will guarantee you 3 points to spend on weapon techniques; add to that the extra points that come with discovering the collectibles, and all techniques can (and should) be unlocked in a single playthrough.

Trophies for mastering the individual techniques will unlock after exiting the upgrade screen which follows each mission; the trophy for mastering all techniques will also unlock after completing your final technique and exiting the upgrade screen (if you've been diligent in acquiring all possible Victory Points this should happen around chapter 4, mission 6, "Hagia Sophia Courtyard").

Note that you can replay any chapter in the game at any time, so if you miss any collectibles (and, thus, any Victory Points) feel free to replay the level before continuing with the game. It is highly recommended to complete the weapon mastery trophies before playing the game on Nightmare difficulty.
Strong as a Spanish Cow

Enhance your character's Strength to its maximum!
This requires 8 Victory Points; please refer to One-Man Army for more information.
Cursed and Loving It

Enhance your character's Templar's Curse to its maximum!
This requires 8 Victory Points; please refer to One-Man Army for more information.
Weapons of Mass Purification

Enhance your character's Weapon Mastery to its maximum!
This requires 8 Victory Points; please refer to One-Man Army for more information.
Playing the Tortuga

Enhance your character's Armor Mastery to its maximum!
This requires 8 Victory Points; please refer to One-Man Army for more information.
Was That Supposed to Hurt?

Enhance your character's Constitution to its maximum!
This requires 8 Victory Points; please refer to One-Man Army for more information.
One-Man Army

Enhance all of your character's statistics to their maximum!
To fully upgrade all of your character's statistics will require a total of 40 Victory Points; each mission awards you 4 Victory Points simply for completing it, but only 1 of those 4 points are allowed to be used to upgrade your character's statistics; there are approximately 32 missions in the game, and you will thus be able to fully upgrade 4 of the 5 character attributes in a single playthrough.

Note that Victory Points can only be earned twice: once on whichever difficulty you choose to play the game for the first time (Crusader - or the easiest difficulty - is recommended), and once on Nightmare difficulty (which is only unlocked once the game is completed on a lesser difficulty); this means that you will fully upgrade your character by around the end of the first chapter (mission 6, "Nightmare I") of your second playthrough.

You should upgrade your Constitution (health) first, followed by your Curse; after that it's up to you. Personally, I upgraded my Strength next, followed by Armor Mastery, with Weapon Mastery being the final upgrade from the first chapter of the second playthrough. The game is quite easy in general, and, because you will have all upgrades by the time you're finished the first chapter of a second playthrough, you really don't have to sweat about this too much seeing as how the game on Nightmare difficulty doesn't really become challenging until the third chapter.

Trophies for fully upgrading individual statistics will unlock upon leaving the upgrade screen which follows each mission; the trophy for upgrading all of your character's statistics will likewise unlock upon leaving the upgrade screen and following the trophy for the final upgraded statistic.
The Cursed Crusader

Clear the game on any difficulty setting.
Defeat the game on any of the available difficulties in order to unlock Nightmare difficulty (Crusader - the easiest - difficulty is recommended for a first playthrough). Please see The Cursed Templar for more information.
The Cursed Templar

Clear the game on the 'Nightmare' difficulty setting.
(3)
Completing the game once on any difficulty will unlock Nightmare difficulty, and for reasons laid out in the Roadmap it's highly recommended to first complete the game on Crusader - the easiest - difficulty before moving on to Nightmare.

When you move on to Nightmare, you should have collected all coffers and Blood Crucifixes and upgraded all weapon techniques and all but one character statistic. You can find all collectibles by replaying chapters, but that's best done on an easier difficulty as you will be forced to find all coffers in a level if you missed even one the first time around and, frankly, on Nightmare you don't want to be wasting your time looking for them. If you have nothing to do but beat each mission on Nightmare you can actually plow through several of the missions in about 10 minutes (each); some will take longer, obviously, but you will be surprised how quickly the game goes when you're not searching for other things.

Two main things to note for Nightmare difficulty: 1) nothing glows; 2) play solo.

As for #1: in lesser difficulties enemies will glow blue or orange when they are about to attack you in order to give you time to respond, but that is not the case on Nightmare - enemies will not give you any advance warning of their attacks; also, on lesser difficulties your next objective - like, say, the gate you're supposed to go through - will also glow in order to let you know where your next objective actually is, but that is not the case on Nightmare: nothing glows, and you'll have to try and remember where your next objective is without any help.

As for #2: Esteban is nigh well invulnerable on Nightmare difficulty; I don't know if this is because the game has him scale along with you as your character levels up, but here's a sobering fact: on Crusader difficulty I had to revive Esteban about 30 times, while on Nightmare difficulty I only had to revive him once. He is literally a walking target, and it is definitely in your best interest to use him as such: lure bosses into his range and they will wail on him while you skulk around and pick them off with arrows or get behind them and pummel them senseless. Playing with a human-controlled Esteban on Nightmare is going to lead to a great deal of frustration and many retries as most missions don't have checkpoints until the final boss fight (provided there is a final boss fight).

As mentioned in the Roadmap, almost all boss fights are ridiculously easy, even on Nightmare difficulty. Just remember to never use any co-op moves in boss fights unless you absolutely have no choice (ie. when a boss is scripted to be out of your range and you must attack him from distance). As soon as a boss is within melee range, melee him. Using the co-op move is inefficient in terms of damage and impractical because of the fact that most bosses have supporters that can attack you while you're defenselessly engaged in the co-op move. Every boss can be pummeled into submission very quickly, just make sure not to attack them from the front because most of them can parry all such attacks.

Please refer to the first post following the guide for a handful of "trouble spots" on Nightmare difficulty that do not have trophies related to them.
Cross the Crosses

Find all the Blood Crucifixes!
There are 26 Blood Crucifixes in the game - never more than one in a level -, and finding each level's cross will give you an additional Victory Point with which you can upgrade your weapon techniques; they can be detected by the sound of a beating heart they make when you're close to them. They can only be seen in Curse mode, but can be heard even in "reality". In order to destroy them, hold + in order to target them and destroy them with a purifying fire.

For all of the locations of the Blood Crucifixes please refer to Gold Before Glory.
Gold Before Glory

Find all the coffers!
There are 103 coffers in the game, and finding all of the coffers in a level will provide you with an additional Victory Point with which you can upgrade your weapon techniques. To open a coffer simply stand next to it and press when prompted.

If you want to know how many coffers are in your current mission, clicking will bring up a list of all collectibles - how many there are and how many you've found - on the lower left part of your screen.

Levels are very linear, so you won't ever have to go out of your way to find any of the collectibles; but, having said that, make sure to find any collectibles before moving on from an area as the game doesn't generally allow any backtracking.

Also note that, if you miss any collectibles, you can replay any mission at any time without affecting the two trophies for completing the game and completing the game on Nightmare difficulty; but also note that any time you don't find all the coffers in a mission you will be required to find them all when you replay it in order for the game to register that you have found them all. In other words: if you find 4/5 coffers in a level, you cannot just find the missing 1 when you replay the level, you will have to find all 5 of them.

Here are very comprehensive videos showing the locations of all coffers and Blood Crucifixes in the game (thanks to jaycee_88 for the videos):

Here's Your Trophy!

Find the ninth Blood Crucifix!
(1)
Despite the trophy description, this doesn't actually refer to a specific Blood Crucifix; it just means that you will get this trophy once you've found 9 of the 26 Blood Crucifixes in the game. If you've collected all possible Blood Crucifixes, you will get this trophy in chapter 2, mission 8, "The Fall of Zara" when you burn the Blood Crucifix in that mission.

For the locations of all the Blood Crucifixes, please see Gold Before Glory.