More Final Fantasy

[Sullla]

Well, I'm glad that you played this one and not me. I probably would have brute-forced my way through a lot of those encounters by breaking rods, and you demonstrated that it was possible to be much more clever. Regarding Apocalypse, there's no magic formula that you're missing. I've made that long trek from the save point in the caves through the sky portion of the Dimensional Castle more times than I'd like to think about... A lot of the troubles that Merlin ran into in that fight were due to his lower level. More levels really do make the game enormously easier, with the extra health and the greater chance for enemy spells to fail. Physical classes hack their way back Apocalpyse with pure damage, just trying to get the kill (usually with Chicken Knife) before he finished them off. Magic classes usually can fall back on breaking Venom Rods and relying on the Magic Power stat for a high damage multiplier. The Red Mage struggled because his "in between" status rendered both approaches impractical. I don't know what else to say, for some solos it's an easy battle, and difficult for others.

Given all you had to go through, I think I'd rather dodge White Holes than wear the Bone Mail for the last battle. But bravo nonetheless, very well played and well written.

Berserker Sandworm Update!

Well I still haven't won yet, but my berserker is getting close. I've gotten the boss down to one hit (500 HP) on several occasions. The trick is that you need to be able to kill the boss in four hits. On my first 250 attempts at the Sandowm, my berserker could never get more than three hits before dying - his Level apparently just wasn't high enough to survive that long. After the latest round of leveling, I made another 150 attempts at the boss, and I managed to get in four hits on 2 different occasions. I need slightly more damage from an additional attack multiplier, and my berserker should be able to do it. I've also found that the game's RNG is definitely less than perfectly random, as my berserker has taken the Sandworm below 1000 HP on five different occasions. The total health remaining on those five attempts: 525, 525, 943, 943, 943. And that was with the highly random Doom Axe equipped, so you know some calcuations are getting repeated there. On the 943 attempts, my berserker died attacking the same wrong Hole all three times.

Hopefully I'll get it in the next 100-200 attempts.

[T-hawk]

I wanted to wear the Bone Mail largely just to have a new puzzle to solve. Yeah I spent several evenings trying different approaches, and could have gotten through faster in real time with standard hack and hope tactics. But that's as close as we've ever come to recapturing the magic of your first solo Black Belt run in the novelty of dismantling and analyzing it all. I did go through a lot of steps, but enjoyed the puzzling a lot.

MJW, the title was wrong on just the first page, thanks for the catch, fixed now.

majora4, I was at the Trench Lamp recharge spot just to powerlevel. There's no encounters in the waterfall place.

Berserker Sandworm Update!

I've also found that the game's RNG is definitely less than perfectly random, as my berserker has taken the Sandworm below 1000 HP on five different occasions. The total health remaining on those five attempts: 525, 525, 943, 943, 943.

Yeah, definitely. I saw the same RNG repetitiveness in the White Mage battle vs Atmos, where the game would repeatedly roll the same streak of Comet damage numbers several separate times.

I wouldn't be surprised if the RNG seed is a simple 8-bit number. It could be a big problem that the Berserker can't perturb the RNG seed during a battle; any other character can wait one or more frames before clicking. What if there are only 256 possible seeds and paths through all the battle actions, but you need to make four straight (I'm simplifying for effect) 1/6 hits for 1 in 1296? There may literally be no possible initial RNG value that allows the Berserker to roll the hits needed. Maybe you can tweak it by putting on or off some other equipment to change his Agility?

Anyway, what should I do next? Mime, Oracle, Cannoneer, Necromancer are left. For a succession game, I think the Oracle fits best (unless Sofis is finishing it alone), since that micromanaging will get tiring. Although you would have to break down and use the GBA version. To make the Cannoneer interesting, I'm willing and should be able to hack in his special ammo early. So do you (or Sofis) have any preference or claim on the Cannoneer and Necromancer?

[Sofis]

Nice report, T-hawk. Wish I remembered more of my run, but it was nearly a year and a half ago (should have taken notes). We finished at similar levels (64 for me), though.

Oh and here's a puzzle: How is that Reflect Knight getting hit with a fire spell above? Merlin did not yet have his Reflect Ring to bounce one off himself past the enemy wall. It's not a Confuse spell on the monster - their innate Reflect status bounces that too.

You pretty much give it away in the immediately preceding paragraph.

For a succession game, I think the Oracle fits best (unless Sofis is finishing it alone), since that micromanaging will get tiring.

I am working on the Oracle (up to Atmos so far). Negligible micromanagement, actually.

[majora4]

I'm not really sure how challenging the Cannoneer will be if you allow his special ammo upfront. The Cannoneer's mixes are very powerful; Even the weakest ammo, combined with a Fire/Water/Thunder Scroll is more powerful than a level 2 elemental spell. Plus his other ability Open Fire is rather powerful in an early game setting. Most of the time you'll get a non-elemental attack with 115 spell power, but the most powerful result comes about 1/8 of the time has 215 power and it instantly kills any non-heavy target. Of course without those abilities, the Cannoneer is essentially a Knight. So I don't know how to feel about it.

However, if you want to try it yourself and make your own opinion, you can use these Gameshark codes. Just press L+Select when not in a menu and you'll call the Ammunition shop where you can buy the Cannoneer's special ammo.

Code:

720095A8 0204
820096E0 070F
320096ED 0035

[T-hawk]

Ha, I just got done working out hack codes for it (changing the first entry in the item list to Buckshot and quantity to 99) and came back to the thread to see that much more elegant solution.

Combine is not a starting ability; it takes 500 ABP total, so not until late in the first world. The scroll combines or Open Fire might be more powerful than Fire/Ice/Bolt 2 -- but so is simply throwing the scrolls in the first place. We're trying to make these exercises interesting and fun, not necessarily to jack up sheer difficulty for its own sake. Sullla did have a Chemist blasting out the 255-power Drain Kiss in the first world too.

You pretty much give it away in the immediately preceding paragraph.

Ha, I meant to put the answer at the bottom of the page but forgot. It's there now. Yes there's a hint (intentionally) in the preceding paragraph but there's a bit more to it than that.

[majora4]

You do have a point, that these variants are for fun and not explicitly for challenge. But for me personally, an ideal playthrough of a game would be mid-range in difficulty, such that there's challenge present, but it's not ungodly difficult. And on that note, I shall change the subject...

Has there been any consideration of taking a solo character through the post-game dungeon on the GBA version of FF5? I used a solo character with all jobs options on the table and some of the bosses there were quite difficult. And others, such as Omega Mk II were pathetic.

[timmy827]

Beyond that? I have no idea. FF3/6? FF Tactics? Lots of possibilities await.

That reminds me, I had a FF3/6 variant in the works. Pretty straightforward:
1. Three solo characters (required by the story, and multi-party finale). IE three different characters are used, but only at a time.
2. No equipping Espers
Kind of scary to see I last made progress almost 2 years ago...was just after getting airship in 2nd world. Latest round of reports just might inspire me to dust it off.

[T-hawk]

Anyway, what should I do next? Mime, Oracle, Cannoneer, Necromancer are left.

Since Sullla didn't come back with any opinions, I goofed around with a Necromancer a bit last night and will start him for real tonight. That Oath ability should indeed be plenty to get him up to where Dark Arts are available.

Has there been any consideration of taking a solo character through the post-game dungeon on the GBA version of FF5?

It's been in the back of my mind, yes. Might not get there for a while though. Single job solos are likely to be too difficult for that dungeon; remember that all but the Chemist can't even deal with regular Omega and Shinryuu. A solo with all jobs sounds too easy with all the usual power combos available. Maybe solo characters with exactly two jobs allowed?

[antisocialmunky]

Has anyone done a Solo Nudist variant?

[majora4]

It's been in the back of my mind, yes. Might not get there for a while though. Single job solos are likely to be too difficult for that dungeon; remember that all but the Chemist can't even deal with regular Omega and Shinryuu. A solo with all jobs sounds too easy with all the usual power combos available. Maybe solo characters with exactly two jobs allowed

I could see Omega being very difficult for a solo character with only one job, sure. At first, I was thinking a Hunter might be able to just use Rapid Fire with the Yoichi Bow. I later realized that the damage you could do is irrelevant, because of Omega would get an astounding EIGHT counterattacks to Rapid Fire. So, um, forget that idea.

However, Shinyru is easier than Omega, even for a solo. A dragoon can equip the Dragon Lance and deal a guaranteed 9999 with Jump at around level 65. A bard with the Apollo's Harp could hit 8500, or a Mediator with a Dragon Whip could score 5000 at the same level, but even 5k is still decent. With the right equipment choices, I think Shinryuu's most dangerous attack is his physical, which he sometimes uses twice. If he uses it twice, you're dead no matter what. But one attack is survivable at level 70 for a Dragoon. (Levels 80 and 94 are needed for Bard and Mediator respectively)

So, I think Shinryuu might be beatable with some luck, but certainly not by every class.

Since Sullla didn't come back with any opinions, I goofed around with a Necromancer a bit last night and will start him for real tonight. That Oath ability should indeed be plenty to get him up to where Dark Arts are available.

The Necromancer's biggest weakness is the same as that of the Berserker, as all healing options are off the table. Obviously, healing items are no good. I don't think you can break a Fire Rod and heal yourself with the Flame Ring. The Necromancer does not absorb Poison like the Bone Mail, so a Venom Rod is useless as well. I guess attacking yourself with the Assassin's Dagger works, but that's only applicable in late game.

The Algorithms FAQ is a bit lacking in information on the Oath ability, but I think I pieced together what it does. Each spell appears to have the same power as the real spell or ability would.

3/8 Skeleton - Bolt 2
2/8 Rajiformes - Aqua Rake
2/8 Flaremancer - Flare
1/8 Zombie Dragon - Poison Breath