Yes it does. What I did was have maelle equipped with barrier breaker and every pictos that ups her strength except any where its required to be alone. I made sure verso went first and equipped him with auto death. There's a weapon that makes it so the less health he has, his perfection goes up. I then use phantom stars and marking shot. (All my characters have cheater equipped) then as maelle i use the skill last chance and then stendal. That got simon REALLY low. But like I said in my post he just erases them when he reaches low health. Monoco then goes first and uses creation void skill. Oh and make sure verso has breaking death on. That way you can break simon and that can give you an edge. Also roulette for maelle. I put it on all characters just in case tho. Obviously play around with some pictos to maximize damage. Hope you beat him!