Attempting to make FFTA2 challenging

[Parrhesia]

I'm constantly whining about how easy the Advance spinoffs of the Tactics spinoffs of Final Fantasy are. So plagued by boredom I wrote this.

1) Hard Mode, obviously.

2) No broken items or skills, such as Sequencers or Dual Wield.

3) When a character falls in battle, they must be dismissed. Resurrection is not an option. Angel Rings are not an option. Dragonheart is not an option. Resetting is not an option. That Paravir skill counts as death.

4) No characters may class change.

5) Only one generic may be recruited from each area. One further generic may be recruited from Clan Mates. These must both be the first candidates, and the first time the recruitment event is available I must go there.

6) Named characters may be recruited. They may not class change, yet they may use any secondary abilities they already have equipped. For instance, Cid is permitted to use Air Render.

7) No characters may use Items.

8) Only the lowest-level characters may be used for each mission, to keep a rotation system going and to keep enemy levels close to my own.

9) The Auction Hall is forbidden apart from the compulsory first time, where I must concede everything.

10) The Law matters not. I shall select Bonus CP as my privilege, and as I shall neither use the Auction Hall, nor undertake Trials, nor use Items or resurrect...you can see where this is going.

I begin tonight, but first; does anyone have any suggestions? Is this possib- No, wait. They've done FFT Calculator-only challenges. They did FFTA Morpher challenges. So being stuck with a white mage using white magic is kinda stretching it.

Incidentally, I tried an Archer only challenge. I found they had been hilariously nerfed. It is that playthrough's save slot I will be overwriting to make THIS playthrough. In memory; to Furetchen's Archer Playthrough, and to Clan Loxley.

That was great. Let's do this.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Or just be awesome and make Luso a White Mage and use nobody else but Physical Nu-Mou.

[Parrhesia]

I said difficult, not tedious. (Although with all the thieves running around...)

[Parrhesia]

Incidentally, I tried an Archer only challenge. I found they had been hilariously nerfed. It is that playthrough's save slot I will be overwriting to make THIS playthrough. In memory; to Furetchen's Archer Playthrough, and to Clan Loxley.

It was 11 pm, and I actually overwrote the good playthrough with some level 3 idiots with swords. Still, Trogdor and Clan Burninate is off the ground. I got some good names, kinda. Izabel the white mage, Leed the black mage, Rubay the archer, Shawn of the Dead the warrior and ... I can't actually remember the thief's name. I was struck by how the archer and the magi huddled in a corner in the pub.

Rubay: Who the fuck is that guy?

Leed: Dunno.

Izabel: He has a nice hat.

Rubay: Yeah, but, like...I mean, what is he, the goddamn Portuguese flag?

Leed: Dunno.

Izabel: Portu-

Rubay: Goddamn bloody soldiers with their goddamn bloody ... hats. They piss me off. Goddammit.

Leed: Yeah.

Izabel: It's a guy who's job is to get stabbed in the face while people like you can sit back and deal nine damage to people.

Rubay: Shut up.

Izabel: I mean, even I can outdamage you.

Rubay: SHUT UP!

Leed: Yeah.

Rubay: You too, Leed!

Leed: Yeah.

Rubay: Ffff-...how many words do you actually know?

Leed: ...Dunno.

Rubay: Goddammit, Leed...

Okay, so aware that I had to ditch a level three, I dropped the thief for a Paw full of Feathers. Shawn of the Dead almost died a fang-related death. Cid was a moron. (I can deal 42 damage to someone. Either I can kill the wolf on half health, that's too strong for anyone else to kill before he gets another turn...or I can hit the wolf with 2 hit points that is the only thing Rubay will ever kill! HMMM)

Goddamn Cid.

Then I beat up some Green Magi, then I realised that it's a crappy class I might accidentally get my other viera. Fuck. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm moving forward to the harder missions. Well, the Yellow Wings anyway. Usually someone dies, but usually my White Mage is underused, so if I'm dour and defensive enough I might pull through without casualties.

[Parrhesia]

So, nobody cares? Oh well, I might as well keep this PT and this log going. Just for kicks.

MY ARMY OF LOSERS, MISFITS AND MALCONTENTS

-Trogdor (Soldier, Protagonist)

-Shawn (Warrior, Slaughterer of the Undead)

-Rubay (Archer, Loan Shark)

-Leed (Black Mage, Monosyllabic Guy)

-Izabel (White Mage, the Glue)

-Noyrood (Thief, Comic Relief)

--------------------------

-Cid (Warrior, Cyborg)

-Adelle (Thief, Would-be Jeigan)

Anyways. Went straight to the Yellow Wings, Trogdor made his one-liner, Cid's 'stache is still not as good as that of Fable I merchants. Then I realised I'd have a very high chance of losing someone here unless I was careful. So, I was careful. Unfortunately, one of my level fours needed to sit out this fight. Either the Warrior or the White Mage. So Shawn of the Dead was warming the bench for this one, but he's pretty much Cid-lite. Except he knows concepts like 'retreat' and 'backstab'.

Enemy thief moseyed up to my guys and caught an arrow in his face. Enemy white monk charged down my left flank, and I swore, because all my guys suck apart from Cid who has craptastic AI and my only disposable unit was Trogdor. Noting this, I threw Trogdor into the heart of the foe, and he hit a few people with his Barong. The animist turtled up and ambled over, the archer focused and rumbled forward, and the black mage froze Trogdor and Cid...fortunately, doing underwhelming damage to my plucky, disposable protagonist. Leed fried some people (my memory is kinda vague), before running away to take cover, nobly using Izabel as a human shield for his arse. Izabel healed someone who didn't really need it. Rubay shot Kidd in the face again. The white monk punched Leed in the face, and Cid and Noyrood attempted to take the entire front flank together, as Trogdor attempted to take the black mage. He died. Well, he's my only disposable unit so it can't hurt to let him do his job.

After a massive melee in the centre, the thief and the monk lay dead. Essentially, everyone just moved forwards, finishing off a foe they now outnumbered 5 to 3 (Leed almost died because of Cid's failure to kill the focused archer). Anyways, I got some Boots, and gave them to my thief.

Moving onwards, it was time for Tomatoes. Yay. I like this mission as it's significantly easier to have people not die, mostly because the Guests take the front line and have counter. Izabel was by now forced to sit this one out, but really...7 guys, one of them significantly overlevelled, against ... some tomatoes. Anyway, as I expected, the irritating thief and moustache guy took the front lines. Noyrood, who's name constantly escapes me (I guess it's just eclipsed in my mind by the late Looshgoobi the Fighter), hid behind Adelle, while Leed and the fighters (Simon Pegg had recently picked up his Samson Sword) combined to take out the alraune before it could take action. The front-liners got tackled, and managed to break through one of the tomatoes (Well, actually it was Rubay, who as usual with my Archers takes all the kills while doing very little of the damage), and then Cid ran off somewhere. After Noyrood had charged in and used Cid to guard his back. Shite. Anyway, after my thief got gangbashed by giant tomatoes, then everyone else promptly walked in and curbstomped everything, Trogdor made his 'pithy' one-liner and we left. I wish Adelle had the ability to teleport and the movement to go straight off the map when she joined us. It might make her useful for something more than her Khukuri.

I realise these logs are probably impenetrable. I'll try and make them more readable later. Them being shorter could help. If they were harder...that could also help. I look forward to writing obituaries.