Life Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 EDIT: Wait, the Angel Flute is seriously unstealable? What crock! It has the lowest drop rate in the game. I have gone 2 hours without stealing that thing. At this point, I don't even try anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted December 31, 2010 Author Share Posted December 31, 2010 Well thanks for that, now I'm not really broken up about it. Epic trolling from Square, since they used an actual troll monster to do it. Magnificent bastards. So now I got the Hilde Garde 3, which means more chocobo time! But first, I gotta go pick up some extra stelazzios I missed, namely one at Alexandria, and one I couldn't get until now in Daguero. Go to the only tower available, and go through the door you could never go into before, searching the nearby corner for Leo. Freya mastered Counter! Daguero When landing here, it's important to land real close to the entrance to this place. Reason being that Grand Dragons can kick some serious ass. Anyways, when you first get to Daguero, head to the right in a tucked in little part for Capricorn. This isn't the only reason we came here though. Go to the elevator further to the right, and at the Synth shop, get the Sargatannas for Zidane and a Glutton's Robe for Quina, some Battle Boots, and Angel Earrings. Now, you'll need to get an extra Zorlin Shape and Mythril Dagger for another Sargatannas for the Thief Gloves. Buy an Obelisk for Freya along with whatever other updates you need. Cherry Blossom I recall is actually a good ability. Once you're done with all that, leave. I also recall something about Excalibur, but it involves the Treno auction. The Thief Gloves really will run you broke, so just leave it for now. You're about to get much better stuff anyways. Chocobo time! Getting hte airship unlocked more chocographs to get (That way, you couldn't get the ability to fly before the airship, which I think was a good call). Getting all the chocograph pieces makes one new chocograph. The chocograph in question is very self explanitory, and you can just go to where it tells you to go. IT contains...Smog! It turns choco gold! Before I go get some gold treasure, I stop by Treno to pick up my Stelazzio prizes, of which consist of a Black Belt and 20K Gil. There's also the beast at the weapon shop. Freya with Bird Killer and MP attack does it in in 2 shots. You gain Running Shoes for your troubles (YEEEEEEEAAAHHH). Outer Island 2-Just north of the desert palace and earth shrine. Contains 11 Sapphires, 1 Circlet, 1 Pumice Piece (ARK!!), 1 Hilde Garde 3 Card (First Edition, sweet!) So, while I got the gold chocobo and trying to find the damn air garden, I decide to stop by chocobo paradise first. For those that don't know, upper left corner of the map. Talking to the chocobos here will reveal hidden dead pepper treasures, but why bother with them when I'm right here? So, I leave (there's nothing here), and I finally find Air Garden. Time for more chocographs. I find all of them rather quickly, and I am left with about 4500 points, which is barely halfway to robe of lords. Air Garden is a real quick way to get points, so if you really want it that bad that early, might as well. I am not that obsessive on the other hand, and will just opt to get the graphs, and then be on my merry way. Little Island-Small island off the east coast of desert palace. Contains 21 Amythysts, 16 Garnets, 1 Genji Armor (YEAAAAAAAAAAH), 1 Ragnarok (Steiner smiles wide). Fairy Islad-It's Yan's Island, that big island near the Lifa Tree. Check on the edge of the mountain where it's more towards the ocean. Contains 33 Potions, 15 Annoyntments, 1 Holy Miter, 1 Dark Matter Card Forgotten Island-Hard to miss, off the north coast of the Forgotten Continent, pretty much the only island of the forgotten continent. Check the butte near the only forest to the island. Contains 1 Ribbon, 1 Rebirth Ring, 13 Amythysts, 1 Ark Card. That's it! Done with the chocobo quest! These are incredible pieces of armor and weapons, so be sure to enjoy them to the fullest. Now, for Ipsen's Castle Ipsen's Castle This is generally a great time to bring your mages in, because they tend to use magic and can take the time to learn their spells off their weapons. Why do I bring up weapons? In Ipsen's castle, the weaker the weapon, the stronger the blow. So for this place only, Zidane's Dagger is his strongest weapon. I decide to bring Garnet, Vivi and Quina along, cause Quina generally doesn't care what weapon it uses. Immediately to the left is a Dagger (in case you sold your first), and to the right is the Aquarius Stelazzio. Next room has a moogle to deliver a letter to, and buy some of the new stuff at the shop. Chest in the upper left has a Cat's Claw. While you're here, take note of the weird panels in the floor. Cimb down the pole, go across and climb up on the opposite end. Garnet mastered Jelly! Man, this is a complex dungeon. Climb up the ladder up the path and jump off the left path for a Javelin. Jumping off the right gets a Broadsword. Go back, climb down said ladder and continue. Quina mastered Counter and Level Up! Next ladder, jumping off immediately gets you a Rod, Climb up to the doorway, and examine a mural on the wall. List until it goes to think, then examine, then push again, then do something drastic, then rest. It'll grant you access to a Barette. Return to the main path and take the elevator up to find Amarant having found the seals. He leaves, and you pick up the mirrors. Make sure you have appropriate abilities equipped for a boss, as in don't have Level Up on. I think it's either Beast or Devil killer you'll need on. Boss: Tahkara He's got an Orichalcon dagger to steal. So take it. Flare rocks here, by the way. Magic in general rocks here. Mighty Guard up, and just go to town. This dude is simple. In fact, make sure Vivi has High Tide on for Dual Flare. When it compacts...Just bomb it with more magic. 4-5 turns is all you should need. Lot of stuff mastered. Now, return back, noting the open door below the turned one. When you get back to the moogle floor, take the upper right panel for a fall down to the chest on the upside down chandelier for a Maiden Prayer. Rest up and save with the moogle if you wish. Go back to the main room, and go up the new flight of stairs to a new passage. Take it up to an elevator that leads to a chained gigantic electric sword. The chest contains a Golem's Flute. A void tells you to fight against hte flow of time, so adjust the pots in a counterclockwise fashion to get Ancient Aroma, which teaches Odin's Sword. If you have Dark Matter and you have Odin learned, he becomes your Wind elemental summon if he fails to land his instant kill. Doesn't do much outside of that though, and if you're like me, you don't give a shit about summons in this game. Vivi mastered Meteor and Flare! Zidane mastered Master Thief! Quina mastered High Tide! Now to equip it with a Circlet (Will come in handy very soon). We exit the castle to find Amarant hasn't come out. You go back in alone and go down the pole to find him wounded, so help him out. Then leave. Amarant mastered Return Magic! Now, head for the areas designated on the map by the seals, and drop everyone off, with the Earth Shrine being the final where you're stuck with Quina (Told ya!). Before going in, equip Zidane with Gaia Gear. Go through the traps, and eventually you'll run into some familiar fiends with everyone in the shrines. With Zidane and Quina, it just has to be... Boss: Litch He's got a couple of sweet things to nab, so do so. If you have Gaia Gear on, you basically can't lose this fight. Smack down with physical attacks. *Yawns* Zidane mastered Long Reach! So, now we go to Shimmering Islands, and I opt to bring Steiner, Amarant and Freya along for the ride. I save before we take another intergalactic planetary trip. I have Steiner equip the Runeblade for now. We arrive onbeautiful blue Terra, in all it's strangeness. As we arrive, we meet the dark armored man. He asks what my name is, btu in truth is not interested, saying that it has no importance. We go on to see what appears to be a girl that's just like Zidane! I would chase after, treasure calls from the left stairs, and I net a Coronet and a Dragon Wrist out of it. Funny thing is, it's something Freya can equip, but it's beyond me as to why she'd ever want it. I give it to Amarant instead. NOW I follow the weird girl, in hopes of finding more treasure on my path. Indeed I do, finding an Elixer on my way. WHOA! No Mercy kicks ass! 5000 damage just for 12 MP? Yes! Amarant mastered Counter! Steiner mastered Auto-Float! Continue on, climb down a neon web and get a Mythril Racket. But before that is a Remedy just below the first web, then continue on. Amarant mastered High Tide! Down the web is a Demon's Vest and the path forward. Freya mastered Body Temp! Amarant mastered No Mercy and Locomotion! To the left is a tucked in passage, that leads down to a Minerva Plate. Minerva mastered Accuracy+ and Auto Regen! Amarant mastered Auto Potion! Steiner mastered Auto-Haste! Amarant mastered Restore HP! Continue on the path to reach town...? Bran Bal Not a really lively place. It's here though that we see the Invincible, that thing that has the nightmarish eye in all Garnet's worst memories. So to the left is a room that has a moogle in a jar, and a Wind Edge. The mog shop has some new stuff to buy, like some weapons and bits of fanciful armor. Chest at the inn has an Elixer. Break time! Oh, and Stilzkin is here for some reason. He offers a Diamond, Elixer and Ether for 2222 Gil. I suppose that's fair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 No Mercy is great but I usually find Amarant being on Chakra duty during Disk 4 since Eiko's busy spamming Holy while Dagger uses her Eidolons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted December 31, 2010 Author Share Posted December 31, 2010 I really could have recalled a Synth shop somewhere...Anyways, go and meet with pink chick, see that Zidane's the boba fett of the clone army of Genomes, and realize that they are all creations of Garland, who's will is absolute (wow, he really DID take over some world!). Right now it seems they are the people, but their souls are missing since their planet is dying. They wish to absorb Terra in order to get their souls back. She tells me that Garland awaits... So, Zidane goes to meet Garland at Pandemonium (Is Terra just the Jade Passage then?), and when Zidane goes to kick his ass, Garland sort of expected him (He's used to that after that failure of a time loop). He had sent his most prized vessel to come and set things right on Gaia in order to ready it for Terra's absorbtion. However, a lack of foresight happened as the genome had grown up into someone reasonably normal. So he made another vessel, this time it was too strong but figured that it would be a great thing to put to use, so he sent this genome next. Come now, we already know who it is: Kuja. Kuja's reason for craziness is that well...He can't cope with being something that is essentially soulless despite actually having one, so he's sort of...Overcompensating the human factors. Zidane on the other hand is simply not going to help destroy his home. But Garland smartened up since last tight, and just decides to zap Zidane's brain and make him into a normal genome. Unlike Kuja, Garland's going to nip any problem at the bud. Speaking of genomes, Kuja's here, unbelieving he returned but did so with a purpose. Then we cut back to Zidane who's on a throne, contemplating who he is and what life is, presumably with a revolver in his hand and listening to a bit too much Johnny Cash. He starts marching on while an epic power ballad plays, first monster some weird hell unicorn with wings. When it lifts into the air, Freya joins in (since you can't hit this thing when it's in the air without abilities, and all of Zidane's suck). Then Amarant comes to help. Freya mastered Cherry Blossom! Next battle is with some weird bug thing with Quina and Steiner. Pretty easy. Steiner mastered Iai Strike and Insomniac! Next is HOLY SHIT that is one giant turtle! Hope you got Gaia Gear on for this beast! Luckily, Garnet comes in to make this fight a breeze. Zidane mastered Acc+! So now Steiner, Garnet and Quina form the rest of my party (and I wish one of them was someone else), and I go back to get everyone, along with remembering to check behind the throne for a Holy Miter. I equip Steiner with the Genji Armor and Ragnarok (the other breaks are meaningless. In fact, all the break moves are meaningless, as I have learned), and Quina with it's new fork. However, I switch Quina with Amarant in a heartbeat. Freay's good, but it's getting to the point where Amarant's abilities mean more than Vivi's magic blasting (considering Amarant can outdamage Flare with a 12 MP move), or Freya's toughness. Amarant's only real problem is his defense sucks ass. I'll get Vivi back on my team when I get Doomsday though. This next part is annoying, mainly because you have to go through passages to avoid lights, or else we fight a Malboro. Pass the bridge and climb up the climbing staircase. This part actually gets kind of confusing,as you have to set the platform's altitude. You have to adjust it right for various prizes and the path forward. Garnet mastered Bahamut! Amarant mastered Revive! I equip Garnet with a Pumice Piece for Boost, and I equip Amarant with Avenger and Add Status (Deathblow). You need to try several altitudes before the rest of your team desides to come in to help maneuver the elevator for you as you ride it. Amarant mastered Gamble Defense! Which come to think of it sounds like an actually good ability for him considering how papery he is. Steiner mastered Thunder Slash! Start with an altitude of 4. Then climb up to the final floor you can reach, and set it to 3 for 20,007 Gil. Then run around, set it to 4. Make sure you got Man Eater and Locomotion equipped. The southern teleporter leads to a pair of Battle Boots, so then take the north teleporter. Zidane mastered Alert! Steiner mastered Body Temp! Amarant mastered MP Attack! Save up, deliver letter, yadda yadda. Steiner mastered Counter and HP+20%! Garnet mastered Curaga! This point you'll go through a gauntlet of bastard bosses. Boss: Silver Dragon This thing is FAST! Even with ATB stalling, it's gonna get in plenty of damage. Shockwave sucks too. It carries an Elixer, Dragon Mail and Kaiser Knuckles, so stealing may or may not be worth it. Makre sure to save a Shock for each of these bosses, and Steiner has High Tide. Free 9999 is too good to ignore. 4 rounds. Steiner mastered Shock! Amarant mastered Demi Shock, HP+20% and Auto-Haste! Time to knock someone down. Boss: Garland Garland's got Dark Gear, Ninja Gear and Battle Boots to nab, so do be sure to nab those tasty treats. Garland's nothing but single target. He's easy enough to beat, especially if you got Locomotion going. You'll most assuredly want the Dark Gear. Now for the moment we've been waiting for. Boss: Kuja Kuja's got a Light Robe, Carabini Mail, and an Ether. Might be worth it, but if you're finding yourself trying too many times, just finish him off. Kuja's fast, and he HURTS! But, you have the means to outdamage him quickly, especially with Amarant giving Steiner basically infinite Shocks. If he's in trance, just forget about it. Eventually you'll kick this guy's ass until eventually...Oh shit. He then hits trance, a tool you've always put to good use, and utterly smokes you with his own ultimate known as Dyne. You lose this fight pretty hard. Kuja proceeds to tell Garland that THIS IS TERRA!! and kicks him into a pit, Garland tells him that he's got a limited amount of life, soon to perish like the black mages he made. Kuja, being psychotically egotistical and clinging to the soul he covets so much, proceeds to destroy Terra, letting planet essentially melt under him. RUN! We must get to an airship and be getting hte hell out of here! FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU- End Disk 3 ...Start disk 4, there's only 1 thing really left to do. Well, 2 things. Now that Shimmering Island's is destroyed, hop on your chocobo and go use a dead pepper for Zidane's Ultima Weapon. Also on the Invincible, be sure to grab the Pisces Stelazzio...The Final Stellazio...? We let the genomes stick around in Black Mage Village, which has some forging to be done. Also, listen to that depressing music. Most likely Final Team: Zidane, Garnet, Steiner, Amarant Why Zidane: He's kinda forced. However, he's starting tog et a bit average after being a badass the entire game. His speed is the clencher though, as with Auto-Haste he can get in strikes before the enemy. Why Garnet: Team healing, why else? Will replace with Vivi once I get the Mace, since I can just equip Dark absorption material, and it acts like team healing while damaging the enemy. Why Steiner: Shock and High Tide make him your highest damage output in a boss fight. He's not bad in a random encounter either, thanks to his absurd might. Decently tough too. Why Amarant: His abilities are just so GOOD! Chakra might as well be infinite MP. Break time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 I would go with Eiko instead of Garnet. Holy does massive amounts of damage in Memoria if you get a spare turn. And Dbl White seems a lot more useful than Eidolon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted December 31, 2010 Author Share Posted December 31, 2010 I would go with Eiko instead of Garnet. Holy does massive amounts of damage in Memoria if you get a spare turn. And Dbl White seems a lot more useful than Eidolon. With how fast I can whip through these battles, I'd hardly be relying on doing damage with Holy or a summon. Double Holy is indeed tasty sounding, but I'm not going to be anything close to dependent on it, and I'm just going to eventually replace whoever my 4th member is with Vivi anyways due to Doomsday and dark absorption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 With how fast I can whip through these battles, I'd hardly be relying on doing damage with Holy or a summon. Double Holy is indeed tasty sounding, but I'm not going to be anything close to dependent on it, and I'm just going to eventually replace whoever my 4th member is with Vivi anyways due to Doomsday and dark absorption. Ok but for Necron, put Eiko back in. I just beat FF9 for the first time (like 10 minutes ago) and Necron pissed the hell out of me with Grand Cross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 Alrighty then. Forgot to forge stuff back in black mage village, so going right there before the final dungeon. As a note, the world map is now filled with monsters from Pandemonium due to all the Mist in the world now. Huh. Turns out there's only 1 thing I give a damn to forge, since I'm still learning Countdown, and by thetime I master it, I'll have the ultimate claws. Reviewing armor, I notice Demon's Mail and Ninja absorb dark, so I'm 3/4 of the way there. All I need now is something off Amarant. A lot of other stuff requires some crappy equips I can't be expected to have kept this entire time, and for at best meager means since in the end I just want dark absorption. I still have one piece of business left to attend to in Treno, however. I go to the stelazzio woman to give her my remaining stelazzios, netting me a Rosetta Ring, 30K Gil, and a ROBE OF LORDS! Great defense, and teaches Concentrate no less. However, I'm still learning Half-MP with Garnet. However, this will be a great piece of equipment for when I fight Tiamat. As for the beast in the weapon shop, have Zidane equipped with Counter, MP Attack, Beast Killer, Auto-Regen and Eye 4 Eye, ans basically stay alive while you counter the damned thing to death, since attacking it directly is only going to result in you getting blicked by a meteor. You should be able to kill in 3 turns. You get a Circlet for your troubles (THAT'S IT!?) Now time to look for that last stelazzio! The hint the stelazzios give you is essentally "who kissed Virgo?". Return to Quan's Dwelling where you found Scorpio, as Scorpio is the answer. Oh hey, Ragtime Mouse! I get his question right, and I get 1000 Gil. Anyways, you'll find Ophiuchus. Return to Treno, and you'll get a...Hammer? *Checks description* Yes, Cinna's hammer! Weird, why does she have it? Oh well. As a note, if you keep this with you when you beat the final boss, you get an alternate ending. Or, you can get Steiner a new sword, a Save the Queen just like Beatrix's. As I look through equipment, I notice that if all else fails, I still got a Pumice Piece for absorbing Dark if I need to. Forging Pumice for Ark (Much as I love Ark) is kind of a silly thing when I could have a full team absorbing Doomsday for healing. Now for the final confrontation. Head for the Lifa Tree and enter the pink glowing orb. Before we enter the final dungeon, we must fight the bouncer. Boss: Nova Dragon ATB stalling, do it. Even with stalling, he's gonna get an attack in every two characters, and he loves throwing down the law with nukes. Fuck stealing in this fight, you can't spare the time. You need that damage out ASAP. No Mercy, Shock, Zidane with his Ultima Weapon, and make sure you have Garnet on standby to heal and go turns one by one so she heals exactly when you need it. Try to be a bit more precise than I was...Steiner was the last man standing, and he barely got by with the final Shock. You can get by fine, but you need precision with your healing. Steiner mastered Restore HP! Now we enter... Memoria The game is done fucking with us. ATB stalling is what got me passed the front freaing door, and you'll need to utilize it since even the basic enemies here are pretty mean. Remember how I told you to save up all your Ethers? They'll pay off here. You'll want your slayer abilities up for sure. The dungeon itself though is actually very straightforward, but I'll bring up more interesting spots when they come up. Garnet learned Mini! Amarant mastered Auto-Regen! FUCK CHIMERAS!! Chimeras are a real annoying enemy, since it seems they simply react to everything you do, or are just STUPENDOUSLY fast, as they can attack after a single act, even WITH stalling in mind. However, it's then I noticed it has really long animations for all it's moves, so I opted to use Countdown. As if Amarant weren't good enough, it worked! One of the most annoying enemies in hte game reduced to 10 seconds When you start to find yourself on an overpass bridge, get some fire gear on and get your serious face on...Devil Killer, Body Temp are mandatory. Counter and MP attack are certainly helpful, because this boss loves to physically attack. Not like Zidane's doing anything else with the MP. Boss: Maralith Play conservatively, let her whittle herself away with counters, healing when you need to and keeping your health high. Steiner's Shock and MP Attack Zidane are a miracle here, and Amarant can be stuck with MP details using Chakra. Not as hard as the Nova Dragon because she has no nukes, but she DOES hit painfully hard. One bad hit, she can actually OHKO someone if she wants. When she dies, she'll do a final attack of Raining Swords, going out with an epic bang. Raining Swords hurts like hell, and OHKOd a full health Amarant, but everyone else lived. First point of real interest is when we see a replica of Alexandria. After you see what happens, check the replica for an Angel Flute, and also a save point. Amarant mastered Auto-Regen and Countdown! Steiner mastered Auto-Regen! When you reach a giant eye in the sky, equip stuff that reduces wind damage, and Clear Headed, along with other offensive fanfare. But first, to the left are some Rune Claws for Amarant. Also, Body Temp for Jet Fire. Boss: Tiamat This guy is absolutely annoying, but comes with a slight brain malfunction. He likes to absorb stats, which is just a fancy way of saying "Wasting a turn". The strategy here is like Maralith except easier, and without a finishing attack (though Jet Fire caught me off guard with Overheat). I had Amarant and Steiner trance here. Steiner attacking and Amarant with Elan No Mercies is about 18000 damage a round. They both just basically pushed Tiamat aside. Zidane mastered Restore HP! Now Zidane essentially has nothing to learn, so I move on. Zidane mastered Eye 4 Eye! Spoke too soon ;;>> When you pass through a waterfall, there is an area tucked away to the side that has a hidden boss, of which unlocks legendary forges. However... Optional Boss: Hades This is a harder fight than it seems, since he goes by a pattern. Cleave, Freeze, Judgement Sword, Cleave, Mustard Bomb, and by then he should be powering his sword. Just keep yourself healed, and unleash your strongest abilities. He shouldn't even get to 1. Steiner mastered Long Reach! Don't bother forging Pumice. You'll want the Dark Absorb. You are free to make Tin Armor though if you wish to just go through the game normally. If you want the alternate ending, beating Hades only brings the benefit of 30 AP and plenty of EXP. Otherwise, it's actually a big waste of time. That being said though, the Tin Armor is freaking awesome. Tons of defense both physical and magical. Steiner will love you for it. After the water though, and it should have been a big hint of who's coming...Body Temp. Boss: Kraken The important thing to note here is you have 3 enemies to stall here rather than 1. Really, there's nothing to fear. All his abilities are piss weak, and all he can really do is freeze you. Helps to have water absorb too I suppose. Man, even Garnet was able to contribute with Bahamut to take out the tentacles just to make him even easier. Didn't even feel fair. For the next fight, make sure you got Undeadkiller equipped. Really, there's no point in actually committing to combat anymore. Also, Locomotion, maybe some Earth protection if you feel desperate. Now, you climb up the first set of ladders and look to the left for the ever-important MACE OF ZEUS! I do not have Vivi on my team currently, but Doomsday on this next boss isn't a good idea, due to undead. The last 3 bosses though? Definitely bringing the little buddy along. After the second ladder, however... Boss: Lich, again He's got level 5 Death, and his physical causes Doom. On top of that, Curaga does nothing to him, despite being Undead. With all the death flying around, it's easy to find this boss annoying. But, with earth protection and Locomotion, he's easier than he needs to be. Amarant mastered Eye 4 Eye! Now to the right is where you'd find Excalibur 2 if you got here within a certain amount of time (I believe it's within 25 hours, entirely possible if you basically cut out the entire chocobo sidequest). The crystal world basically houses a crystal version of the fiends, and only nets you AP. Don't bother fighting, and just move forward. Keep going till you find a save point, and switch over to Vivi, giving him a Pumice Piece. Now equip everyone with...and this is gonna sound weird...Bug Killer. Whole team should have dark absorb and Auto Haste. Boss: Deathguise Oh hey, Kuja keeps that damned thing as a pet eh? Don't think I don't remember the thing that made the skies of the World of Ruin unsafe. He's going to open up with Meteor, and it's going to suck. In fact, surviving the Meteor is the hardest part of this fight. Why? Cause without a full team, he's free to roll you with Spins. Really, once you survive the Meteor and start to get Doomsday going, you're in the clear. 5 rounds. Go back, tent up, save, then get ready for some ass kicking. Boss: Trance Kuja Aura on Vivi, Shock, Doomsday, Zidane MP Attacks. That is all. I like how Flare Star can actually miss. His attack animations are too long, and he hasn't the power to outright OHKO someone. He makes it too easy for me. But then he suicide bombs with Ultima, and wastes all of us. We awake though in some godforsaken realm...We are dead it seems, and some etheral being is beckoning us, claiming to be the darkness of eternity. I am given one last chance to set everything up, and I can't really deviate, nor do I want to. I would actually like to think Angel Snack would help great in this fight, but damage output for the win. Equip the skills that ensure you're just outright fucked out of battle, namely Insomniac, Jelly, Locomotion, Body Temp and Clear Headed. Trust me on this. Equip what magical defensive equipment you can. Final Boss: Necron This guy has a pattern, and eventually it's gonna come to Grand Cross. Remember that from FF5? Yeah, Necron has it now, and it's even more horrifying because you can't possibly defend against all the statuses it brings now without killing some other form of offense. He also seems to have double attacking going on, which means he's already leagues ahead of any other boss out there. Blue Shockwave and any spell means whoevergot hit by the shockwave is dead, so keep that in mind. The idea of this fight really is to kill him before he kills you, and he can kill you pretty easily with Neutron Ring. In fact, Neutron Ring+-Aga nuke can mean death for the most part unless you're at full health for just about everyone. Auto-Life is good to have here, so Rebirth Ring(s if you have gotten one from the Treno Auction House) and Aura are great tools here if you need to long haul it a bit more. Most final fantasies or RPGs, I'd say for a final boss, more often than not you need to either be able to survive a long time, or have to kill as quick as possible. Necron gets the unique title of needing precision with beating easily, as it requires quite precise timings and stallings of ATB, along with proper times of taking action with what character. You might need a couple shots at this guy to get it right, but no worries. Kuja's a cake walk after all. So there is FF9, and upo replaying it with a better mind, I come to remember how I came to love it. While back then I loved it for it's difficulty, fun side quests (still fun to this day though), and well done characters, I come back to find a very rewarding combat system built to requiring precision (most noticeable in Memoria, or during the Tarantan fight), and a very well balanced game (Doomsday ruining 1 of 3 final bosses notwithstanding). Some gaping plot holes here and there, and the atmosphere I feel is not quite up to par with some old games, and at points the story feels like it's trying to be FF5 but taking itself too seriously. What's even funnier is that I felt it could have been a whole lot more. It could actually stand to be a bit harder, because some bosses you could absolutely lock down and they can't do anything about it. Only real struggles were with Nova Dragon, Deathguise (and even then, it just comes down to luck of surviving a Meteor), and Necron. In the end though, it boils down to a game that feels like quite a fantasy, with solid gameplay, solid characters, solid world, and that's all one needs. Game put me in a lighter mood, I say. Been craving to get back to 9. Now if I had to make a tier list for this game, it'd look a bit like this. Top Zidane High Vivi, Steiner Mid Garnet, Freya, Quina Low Eiko Eiko being low is more personal preference for who I want to come to endgame more than anything, as she's not useless by any means. I'll explain my thoughts in the next post. Happy New Year everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 I found Deathguise really easy. Like easier than his FF6 counterparts and I was breaking Holy Rods to kill him before he ran away. Ok, Holy Rods are kinda cheap when you can buy them in Thamasa but the point here is that Deathguise was kinda easy. Eiko hit him with a couple of Holys, Zidane and Steiner did damage like a boss and Amarant spammed Chakra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 (edited) Deathguise is indeed easy, I just hate that first damned meteor. Vivi with Dark Robe and Doomsday is essentially the same as Holy, except it allows Amarant to spam No Mercies instead of Chakras. Kill him before I even suffer MP problems. After the fight, you should have so much Ether that it's no problem at all to just refuel. Anyways, my explanations for the tier. Zidane For the most part, he's forced all game round, however there is more to him than just being forced. 1. He's always got the best equipment hands down, and with all the time he has, he can learn all the stuff he wants. 2. Because of this, he's usually ahead qith his equipment since he can learn the slayer abilities fast along with his skills as to let him equip his better stuff sooner, and 3. He's got steal, which is responsible for like..all the good equipment. He makes the rest of your team better by getting certain equips earlier. Towards the end though, he is defensively kinda rubbish. However, MP Attack and Ultima Weapon ensure a spot on hte team, because coupled up with a slayer ability on the proper boss, he's doing with 15 MP what Steiner needs 47 MP to do with Shock (or close enough to it).The ONLY problem I might have is that you only have 1 Ninja Gear, and in disk 4 I noticed you can actually switch Zidane out. I might have to rethink Freya a bit then, because allowing Amarant better defenses with better dark absorb so he can have a better accessory while Freya can just equip Demon Mail and do whatever the hell she needs to as she is freaking tough on her own, might call to take a slot over Zidane for some o the final fights. His passive abilities are excellent, and he's got a good amount of crystals to equip with. However, his Skills pretty much suck. Outside of Detect to determine if you really need the equipment stolen or not or Flee, he's not doing anything with them in combat. Not that he really cares. Vivi Vivi is a mage, and he has a lot of time along with a lot of power. Focus allows him to basically drop a bomb that is basically all the power he cast during the time he COULD have used spells instead of Focus in one blast, so he can reserve plenty of MP for regular fights. It's once he gets Bio in disk 2 though that he starts to shine, since he's got an easy time OHKOing stuff, along with stuff like Water. He's even pretty tough as far as mages are concerned. Also, if it counts for anything, in disk 1 it is Vivi that brings more power to Steiner's Sword, allowing him t stay with early equipment longer to get those slayer abilities easier. His only real problem is that he has a sort of dry spell when it's disk 3 and he has to rely on more iffy spells like Comet and Meteor. They're cpable of being powerful, but are far too risk-oriented in my opinion, and he has to make up with Focus, which by then with all the abilities and power you have is just time you could have spent doing something good or useful. However, he's right back on it when you get Doomsday, a spell of absurd power when paired with the Dark Robe along with the whole team having dark absorb, being able to bring offense AND healing to a team. No other character is even close to capable of copying that (now we know why it's like the last thing you get). It's quite invaluable to have healing in hte last battles, and he brings it with a nuke. You're awesome, Vivi. Steiner Steiner is a very simple character to understand. He wants slayer abilities early so he can hit things with a big goddamn stick. He likes to team up with Vivi to make his killing stick even killinger. He just wants to own bitches, and he's really damn good at it too. A Steiner who's ORKOing early is a happy Steiner. While this trend cannot continue as the game goes on, he can still help with his insane damage output. That's really all their is to it. He's good because he's one of the best at hulking out and smashing stuff, along with not dying. So, why is Steiner not above Vivi? Simple reasons really. Vivi is in disk 2 OHKOing stuff when your team consists of Zidane, Garnet and Eiko, and even Zidane cannot match the power of Bio (Zidane cannot OHKO Trolls on the Lifa Root Passage). This is leagues more awesome than Steiner OHKOing stuff early on, which Vivi can do too with his magic, and 2. Steiner cannot heal while bringing offense. Steiner is also one suffering a dry spell, but unlike Vivi, the dry spell is forced by the fact there's a good chunk of disk 1 and 2 where he's outright missing. Vivi sort of faltered on his own, Steiner had no choice. Garnet She is top of mid tier because, even though she doesn't kill, her healing in some battles makes things purely trivial, like the Lani battle with Chemist, or just the fact team healing can make all enemy damage simply disappear. She can lock down bosses just on the fact that her healing is so powerful. That being said, there is a good portion of the game where such powerful healing is overkill and unecessary. At times, it's better to just go with sheer brute force and letting hi potions do the talking. This is why she is merely mid. Helpful, but for hte most part replaceable. Her and Eiko alike have a brief moment in disk 4 where hi potions don't cut it anymore, and Vivi's Doomsday is a showstealer. Amarant He steals the absolute middle here, however it's less about him being meh, because the reality is that Amarant is absolutely awesome. His problem is his availability, and how good he is during that availability. For the entirety of his start, he's actually kind of assy. He needs to learn all the shit everyone else has already learned, and he's stuck with a shitty weapon to get what is probably his most key ability Chakra for that MP restoration. Allowing more Doomsdays or Shocks or MP Attacks from Zidane is a yes in my book. It's in this sense how uniquely he changes the game just upon existing. For a tall brutish dude with a claw for a weapon, it's surprising to think that his endgame use is mainly that of a supportive character than offensive. Even then, he's very capable of offense once he gets his good equipment and slayer abilities going, along with the awesomeness that is No Mercy. My only problem is his early shitty start and the fact he has the durability of wet paper. Freya Freya is mid because she gets credit for being another physical unit for when you need one. For the most part, she takes Steiner's part for when he's not there, and Amaarant's for when he has yet to arrive. She's pretty good at her job too, and Dragonslayer is unique to her which can let her get away with some future awesomeness. Rei's Wind is also a pretty good midgame skill, and White Draw can replace Chakra since instead of it being constant blasts of MP throughout a battle, it's one big blast of it for the whole team, and she can spend the rest of her time fighting to make up the damage output on things. It also helps that she is tough, and has access to heavy armor. Her only downfall to taking a slot over Amarant though is that Amarant has a way to not only Revive someone to at least half health, he's got a freaking auto life ability, and all his stuff is dirt cheap. She can attack a bit more often, but...I just feel she's not as versatile to warrent it. However, she does have some key instances of being good, and especially enjoys the time when hi potions are doing the healing for a team of sheer damage output. Quina Quina is as weird as one would expect in combat. It's combat is wonky since forks do random damage, and for the most part Blue Magics are very situational. I'm not a fan of White Wind in this game (It's BASED on how full it's health is, rather than how much health the user has is the amount healed), and Mighty Guard is not really a required ability for anything. However, Eat is a nice way to ensure something is finished off, because if Quina can eat it, it won't miss, and it's non dependent on what the team is doing, long is the enemy is at low enough health. I think the most shining trait of Quina is that of Millionaire, since Gil is actually quite important. It's very passive how Millionaire helps, but it pays off for when you can have a whole team get Fairy Earrings as soon as possible for level up, powering up whatever team you plan on using at that time, AND having an easy way for Body Temp. That's the most notable thing Millionaire gets you, but it's obviosuly not the only thing. I think the main problem with Quina is that Quina is way too situational, and it's onlybenefits are passive stuff not involving combat. Once you don't need it anymore, you won't really miss it. You thank it for hte Fairy Earrings, and tell it to go hide in a corner somewhere. Eiko Eiko's problem is not that she sucks, but rather she has little to make up for the fact that she's outclassed. Double White when tranced (which is not all the time) is good, yes. Holy is fantastic. The problem is more her level makes her very squishy, and the fact that until Holy is accessable, she has nothing on the higher leveled Garnet other than the brief period where Garnet is useless due to shock (and this is the point where Hi Potions do fine, so I can be better off with a team that kills things quicker).She ust has little room to make herself noticed. I suppose the main benefit with ehr is that it's reletively painless to teach her all the abilities she will need in the future compared to Amarant, since she is a mage and can just sit in hte back row, but I feel that having little to make her deserve a slot hurts her, and it hurts even worse for the future performance in using Holy, since she will most likely be lagging in levels. Then we compare that to Doomsday, of which Vivi is still most likely the victor with a bit higher level, and due to deserving time on the team a bit more often, enough time to get Auto-Haste off the running shoes, and Auto-Haste is stupidly important later on. Which by the way, is another reason she is making less headway. I can easily equip immunities, and Auto Haste makes running Haste-Carbuncle pointless (especially since I'll have to recast Carbuncle from time to time). She can be good, just a bit too much effort for not enough imo. So next comes the horrors of FF8! I will be riffing on the story of course along with adding my own little musings to it, because there's no way in hell I can just bare it. I will make a seperate topic for FF8 and 7, and it will be a nice change of pace. As much as I loved FF9, I need something a bit less traditional ya know? Edited January 1, 2011 by Amaterasu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 (edited) Now to the right is where you'd find Excalibur 2 if you got here within a certain amount of time (I believe it's within 25 hours, entirely possible if you basically cut out the entire chocobo sidequest). Tangerine told me that it was like 6 hours. I need to check though. EDIT: 12 hours. You have to beat Lich in 12 hours. Honestly, I can't see HOW this is possible but then again, most Low Level Challenges seem silly in my mind. Edited January 1, 2011 by Life Admiral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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