More Final Fantasy

[T-hawk]

So here's a neat trick/bug I've never seen any solo exploit: using an Ether on an enemy. What's the point of this? Well, enemy MP is supposed to be capped at 9999.

That... is an amazing discovery. I took the liberty of drafting a list of enemies this works for, in the spoiler below. I just know that'll be helpful somewhere

Atmos (Oh boy, I bet White and Jesse feel silly now!)

Wait... no they don't. Atmos has 10000 MP, so capping at 9999 doesn't matter. Whew.

[English Language]

Coral Sword + Goblin Punch? Lightning Rods? Guard-Off spam? Don't forget that you can keep switching your shield between Genji/Aegis/Flame Shield appropriately. Also, on the Dark Shock route it does get more likely each hit, remember! But I wouldn't do that....

"Coral Sword+Goblin Punch"-Does that work? I'll double check, but I didn't consider Goblin Punch using the weapon's element.
"Lightning Rods"-Omega has Auto-Reflect on, so no go there sadly.
"Guard-Off spam?"-Possible, but he also has the 95% Magic Evade to deal with.
I do plan on making use of shield switching when needed. And yeah, Dark Shock is an extreme last resort.

A set of Aegis Shield/Diamond Helm/Bone Mail/ Flame Ring blocks everything but his physicals (but gives great defence for that), Lightning (which is halved) and Tidal Wave (reset until Aegis proc) . Half of his routine even heals you! If you can handle his physicals (Back row/ mighty guard/ flash?) he's easy.

Yeah, currently his physicals are the only real problem, everything else I can deal with somehow. And flash....I honestly assumed he was immune to Darkness, but I just checked the algorithm guide and he's actually not. I can't believe I didn't think of that! It still has to bypass his magic evade, but it's something.

[Plus C]

Coral Sword + Goblin Punch? Lightning Rods? Guard-Off spam? Don't forget that you can keep switching your shield between Genji/Aegis/Flame Shield appropriately. Also, on the Dark Shock route it does get more likely each hit, remember! But I wouldn't do that....

"Coral Sword+Goblin Punch"-Does that work? I'll double check, but I didn't consider Goblin Punch using the weapon's element.
"Lightning Rods"-Omega has Auto-Reflect on, so no go there sadly.
"Guard-Off spam?"-Possible, but he also has the 95% Magic Evade to deal with.
I do plan on making use of shield switching when needed. And yeah, Dark Shock is an extreme last resort.

I'm not actually sure if Goblin Punch works that way, actually. Just thinking out loud. Are rods reflected? If so you could use Flame Shield + Flame Rods to heal through the Bone Mail, so you can stick to the Aegis Shield for a better Circle blocking chance. Bone Mail would block Death and Confusion, so it'd be handy.

Also, he starts stopped; can you act quick enough to take advantage of this for a free Dark Shock?

[English Language]

Unless I can somehow get a Pre-emptive attack on him, he still goes too fast to get a first Dark Shock on. Even then, his level of 119 with Dark Shock lowering it to 59 still doesn't open him up to anything useful. A second Dark Shock drops to him level 29....where he's still not vulnerable to anything useful.

Rods are reflected yes, though only Venom Rods can be self-targeted weirdly enough.

As far as Flame Rods.....hmm. Assuming I go with Bone Mail-Aegis Shield-Flame Ring....

Atomic Ray/Flamethrower: Flame Ring would negate.
Rainbow Wind: No problem.
Blaster: Bone Mail for full heal.
Maelstrom: Bounce a Flame Rod off Omega for heal.
Quake: Mighty Guard for Float.
Rocket Punch: Aegis Shield to block, Flame Rod bounce if not.
Mustard Bomb: Mighty Guard for Shell.
Circle: I have no answer for this. Circle only has a 1/3 chance of showing up at all during counters, isn't 100% accurate anyways, Aegis Shield can block it too.
Surge Beam: Flame Rod bouncing.
Delta Attack: Aegis Shield block.

Hmmm, I'd have to go buy a metric ton of Flame Rods, but that doesn't sound too unfeasible actually looking at it.

EDIT: Actually, something else I didn't consider was that ditching Reflect Ring also prevents Atomic Ray from being a healing source for Omega, ultimately cutting the battle time down. I'm liking this idea a lot now that I noticed this.

[English Language]

Of course, as I say that, I get a pre-emptive attack on him the very next attempt :V

Sadly, Stop still ends by the time I go so even with a PE Strike I'd still have to deal with his magic evade.

[System Error]

Also, System Error, I'm really enjoying the FF2 run, I've only ever played the remakes so it's a little weird to see in it's natural, pixelly state, but it's really interesting to read about; keep it up!

I may have something new and terrifying to add to the topic later next week; watch this space!

Thanks. Like I said, it's something I just felt like checking out. It has a certain charm to it...

So before getting into this, I should say that I managed to dig up a algorithms guide for FF2...or something similar. Check it out. It has a lot of useful and interesting info on the game, most of which doesn't seem to be anywhere else.
_________________


So take a look at this. Recognize the weapon? You should. Base Evasion is determined by Agility. You then gain a bonus equal to (L + 1) * B depending on equipment, where L is the level of your equipment and B is the bonus it gets. Then subtract out equipment weight.

Most every weapon in the game, with the exception of this little dagger (5), the Defender Sword (8), and Masamune (2) have a bonus of 1. They also all happen to have a small(er) spellcasting penality than shields, at 5%, 50%, and 0%! The catch for our specific case - there's exactly one Main Gauche in the game.


So Dist Cavern. Before going in, I take a trip to Mysidia and get Patchy a Holy spellbook.


There's hordes of undead in here, along with Souls. Like the Red Soul boss from before, these guys absorb all elements you throw at them. Holy does just fine though, so they go down easily enough.


The Chimeras are the boss of this dungeon, Their main attack is this party-wide flame, which manages to bring down Marisa. Still, nothing my magicians can't handle.


On returning to Altea, we find Princess Hilda has been replaced by a Lamia!! I save before jumping into this boss, as she has a drop that I want. To quickly dispose of her, I have Alice and Marisa take off their equipment aim their Exit and Warps spells at the snakelady.


Don't want the huge pile of cash. This is also known as the Protect Ring. It's part of what I consider the mage equipment set. All of it is lightweight and offers a +21% boost to magic defense, Protect Ring has a weight of only 3, has 18 defense, and offers death protection. Tempting, but not what I'm looking for.


There we are. The Ribbon stands as a fantastic piece of equipment. With resistance to all elements, all status ailments, 21% magic defense, no spellcasting penalty, and even a pleasant 10 defense, this is undoubtedly the ultimate headwear. Genji Helm? An overweight amateur. Alice ties this into her hair, and we set off.


But not before I somehow found a way to freeze the game. Remember how there must be at least one person in the front row? Well, everyone was in the back row for the Lamia Queen fight, and Gordon - who rejoined us - was in the back row when he left. He rejoins in the back row, so everyone is in the back row. The game just locks up here.


Anyway, the real princess got kidnapped, and she's in the Empire's Arena. However, a giant behemoth is also competing for her. What exactly this thing wants with her is unclear, but it's a toughie: no elemental weaknesses and 1620HP. The boss theme of this game plays for the first time in this fight. It's more bark than bite, though. With Alice dodging its purely physical attacks, the magicians simply chip away at it until it collapses.


The jail beneath the arena isn't worth talking about. This rare encounter shows up as I'm leaving, which I'll be exploiting in a bit for its drops, in a far better place to find it.


I get my first 1000+ damage hit on the walk back, from Marisa blasting an Antlion with Ice.


Time to retake Phin Castle!! Layla rejoins a bit in. Those Sorcerors and Wizards are about twice as common here as they were back in the Arena. And um, highly dangerous. Wow.


Luckily, Alice is a beast.


The drops I get from the first several though...aren't really that good. Aura, as I've learned gives you bonus damage when physically attacking certain enemy types. So, still useless to us. Drain is nice to have around; I end up with several of these. Two go to Marisa and Patchy, the rest get sold. And there is a lot of junk I get before it's over.


The Ribbon drop I get puts in work!! The bad news is, Alice's Heal needs a bit more training before it can remove petrify.


Seriously, those mages are nuts. Here's their attack "script". They choose one of these each turn at the specified odds.

Sorceror: Drain (20%), Flare (20%), Osmose (20%), Toad (10%), Fire (10%), Stop (10%), Warp (5%), Break (5%)
Wizard: Drain (20%), Blizzard (20%), Fire (20%), Haste (10%), Stun (10%), Confuse (10%), Death (5%), Curse (5%)

Break, Toad, Warp, and Death are all very painful, and the rest are pretty bad too. But finally, after about a dozen of those big fights...


Booya. The Flare spell is essentially the Black Mage counterpart to Holy. Aspil is the MP counterpart to Drain. I only get one, so I have to go around hunting more.


The only thing worth noting about Commander Gotus, the boss of this place, is that he actually smacked Alice around a bit. Still, he was blasted into submission before he could do too much.


With Phin now reoperational, so opens its magic shop. Which actually has some unique stuff in it. Alice picks up Fog and Slow, just because. The castle basement is the next stop.


The first few floors have monsters from several dungeons ago. Another Soul enemy shows up a few levels down. The Green Souls throw Cure at us while we wail away. The Brains are weird enemies with a peculiar vulnerability to Mind spells. Alice hits them with it to neuter their magic, because why not?


These guys, a monster in a box shortly before the White Mask, are highly dangerous...their breath skill inflicts petrify. They never get to use it though, as Alice Barriers up her comrades while they Aspil away their MP.

Next stop: Mysidia, when we're actually supposed to be going to Mysidia. Now seems a good time for a skill checkup.


Most of the status skills Marisa has are there for the hell of it. Flare is already starting to get broken in, and Ice is nearly at 8. Intelligence is nearing the ceiling...

Holy wasn't select canceled, unlike some of the support stuff. It really did get that strong just through constant use, and those solo battles Alice ended up win certainly helped. Her HP really went through the roof because of those encounters.

Patchy's skills are improving. Holy's gone up to 4, which is good. Bolt is also nearing level 8. Stats still leave a lot to be desired, though...but they should get to where they need to be by the end.

[System Error]

We can place the White Mask on a maiden's statue in Mysidia, then make a long walk to the next dungeon. Shortly into it, we get this beauty. The Black Garb has 40 defense, just under the Diamond Plate's 43. It shares a 1% magic penalty, but also has a +10 to Agility and a _zero_ evasion penalty. It even gives resistance to the Matter element. Needless to say, this is fantastic for anyone, but especially Alice - even with her ribbon, this can give her a setup that gives the desired agility and lacks any spellcasting penalty.


This is a really dull dungeon. Only exciting thing is another Aspil spell at the end, which Alice takes up. Her Intelligence is lacking, but it's more consistent than trying to use Change.


Holy 9, coming from 99 Soul...is really really strong.


One long-ass roundabout ship trip later, we finally reach the tower only to be swallowed up by a sea monster. Taunting us inside are these ElecFish, which absorb lightning. I mostly start to stick to my non-elemental spells here.


Richard the (sword-wielding) Dragoon joins us partway in this VERY short dungeon. His magic stats...suck. They suck. All I have on me is a Drain spell, which I suppose is one of the better spells to get stuck using, but still.


Guarding the way out is the Worm, also known as the Land Worm, also known as the Round Worm. 2000 HP aside, this is a complete non-threat.


Mysidia Tower!! A feature of this place is the pools of lava and frigid water on certain floors, which are much like the lava/spikes in FF1.


Before long, we bump into this fellow. His Rock special can hit back row targets for heavy damage. Marisa really feels this (you can see the damage it's done).

Against these types of enemies is where elemental weaknesses really shine. That, my friends, is just short of a one-hit kill - a bit more luck on the damage and it would've been. Fire Gigas has only 1800 HP. Who needs Toad?! Failing that, don't forget that we have a 1000+ damage attack in Holy 9.


Another Gigas is a few floors up, on an Ice-themed floor. Note that while the minibosses and treasures are ice-themed, the enemies are not. A few Fire spells does this one in.


The weakness of the Thunder Gigas is the poisonous Aero spell. Don't ask how this makes sense. Each Gigas has successively more HP that the last one, and with Aero being not trained as high, it takes a few casts to get him.


There's a couple of nice pickups in this place. There's a Flare book, which I'll be saving for later. And the Black Robe. Counterpart to the White Robe below which protects against status elements and gives +10 to Soul, this bestows protection from damaging elements and gives +10 to Intelligence.


Also, this thing guards it.

It's worth noting that if you've played the remakes, you're probably familiar with how there are two boss themes. In this version, there's only one, and it's more exclusive. Behemoth uses it, this Dragon uses it, Lamia Queen and the Gigas don't use it despite using the same boss theme as the others in the remake.


Anyway, it's an ice dragon, so fire burns it up quite good.


And then...wow, 5% drop! These are the Genji Gloves, otherwise exclusive to a well-guarded chest in the final dungeon. They have 45 defense, the highest in the game, but -47% defense and an absurd 100 magic penalty. We won't be using them for the latter aspect, needless to say.


And at the top, Ultima!! Ultima is touted as the ultimate magic of the game. However, it has a few...issues. Related to coding.


How Ultima is supposed to work: take the entire cumulative magic and weapon skills your character has, add them up, then use them to deliver heavy damage.
How Ultima actually works: nobody knows. Even that site I linked to. Some people say it does like 1 damage, some people say it does 100-200 regardless of level, that site says it does 100 at lowest level and 500 at highest.

So let's try to narrow it down, shall we? When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
- Your cumulative skill levels. I removed all of Patchy's spells, leaving only the 4 on Shield and fired off Ultima 1.
- Ultima's skill level. I pumped it up to Ultima 16, it did nothing more. I broke the game with cheats and pushed it all the way to Ultima 200+, and it did the same amount of damage (other spells did peform as expected).
- Spellcasting penalty. Doesn't seem to have any effect at all!


- Stats. Richard, with his lame 26 Soul, could sometimes do more damage than Alice, who has 99 Soul.


There's really only one thing I found to affect the variable damage, and that's enemy magic defense. These Imp enemies have a magic defense of 3x100%. Meaning they will always block three hits of magic. I couldn't get Ultima to do more than about this much damage against them even with repeated use. My theory as for the rest: the game pulls data from some changing variable to determine number of "hits".


By the way, a bonus: that blue fellow there is the DesAngel, aka Goblin Prince. It's one of the rarest enemies in the game, exclusive to just outside Kashuon and the first floor of the keep. Found these while testing Ultima's damage on those weak LegEaters (1x60% magic evasion). You'd expect such a rare encounter to be highly dangerous...but they're not. So why is it so rare...?


Stats. Alice and Marisa have maxed their magic stats. Thanks to repeated use of their non-elemental spells, they're really starting to get up there. Patchy is catching up, and will probably hit 99 in both by the end. Alice's evasion is nearly maxed out while the Main Gauche is equipped. Also good.

Note Marisa's Soul. Due to a bug with multitargetted spells, they sometimes cause the first character's Soul to increase, rather than anyone's magic defense. That's why it's as high as it is, despite Marisa never using White Magic.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Yes. I just wanted you to talk about Ultima glitch because it shows that the developers didn't really have a budget so the early were like indie games. The spell was billed as UBER, you spent 1/3 of the game getting it and a major character died for it. The difficulty in the earlier FF games were caused by low budgets causing bugs, poor pacing and lack of tutorials. It does not make sense to give any credit for failure. Too bad you cannot show off the bloodsword for this playthough...

[English Language]

No progress on Omega or Shinryuu with Blue Mage. Shinryuu I might need more hit points for to take his physicals.

Omega, I like the new strat, unfortunately I spend almost all of my time tossing Flame and Venom Rods at myself to stay alive, much less actually going on the offensive. I have learned I need to Mighty Guard for Float OUTSIDE of the fight(and I DO need it because Earthquake is a OHKO), because while Shell is great for a number of things in the fight, it also drops how much healing I'm getting by too much. I swapped Gold Hairpin for a Green beret for extra speed(though I should go to Phantom Village to grab the Black Cowl for the bigger speed bonus).

[System Error]

Yes. I just wanted you to talk about Ultima glitch because it shows that the developers didn't really have a budget so the early were like indie games. The spell was billed as UBER, you spent 1/3 of the game getting it and a major character died for it. The difficulty in the earlier FF games were caused by low budgets causing bugs, poor pacing and lack of tutorials. It does not make sense to give any credit for failure. Too bad you cannot show off the bloodsword for this playthough...

Oh, I have something that's just as good. There's four good ways to kill the Emperor. One is the Blood Sword. One is the Wall bug. The third is Berserk buffing. The fourth...my magicians are more than capable of doing!!

And good luck, English Language. You got this.
_________________



After Ultima. The lands are now being ravaged by a Cyclone. Four towns have been destroyed. The random encounters have almost changed. Some of these you never have to see yet prove interesting, like the Sand Worms and their incessent Quakes.


We have to get our Dragon from some random mirror and fly right into that bad boy.


As usual, the randoms aren't worth talking about. Alice stands in front and dodges all the physics while I chip away with magic at everything. At this point, I abandoned everything else and just started casting the nonelemental magic.


Another Dragon lies as a monster in a box. Again using elemental weaknesses, it's not much of a contest. It doesn't have nearly as cool drops as the other one, but this is a welcome semi-reusable spellcasting item.


Before facing the Emperor himself, you have to fight two sets of those Corpse enemies, which are surprisingly not undead. The Emperor himself is so lame, the boss music doesn't even play. Nay, the real nasty opponent is technically the Wood Golem. It's got 14x100% Magic Defense. Alice's Holy only did 600 to it...but Marisa's Fire 8 ignored that all and hit for 1752 damage.


Blah blah blah Dark Knight takes over and is really Hijiri, and we got an Airship.


Time to crash Paramekia Castle. There's a new flavor of Golem here, as well as those Generals. They have a 10-hit attack, which Alice is able to dodge.


This guy is actually a rare random encounter, but also serves as fixed a monster in a box. He's a bit more difficult than the standard Emperor and is actually the only undead enemy in this game not weak to fire. Non-elemental stuff gets the job done.


I get some insane drops while traversing this dungeon. First, from a Lamia Queen in a box containing a Sun Sword (the third-strongest sword), I get a second Ribbon! This will definitely come in handy. Then I get a Yoichi Bow off a General at 10% odds. The strongest bow in the game, it casts a Berserk 3 spell when used as an item. Then they drop another Sun Sword at 5%. I have no use for the latter two, sadly..


There's no boss at the end, only Byakuren Hijiri. The former Emperor comes back. In the novelization of FF2, I should mention that the Emperor sold his soul to the devil for the ability to summon legions of the damned. After dying, the devil tells him he will claim his soul, but the Emperor isn't having any of that. He proceeds to kill the devil and take over Hell. A true badass.


Hijiri is a master of weapons. Notsomuch magic, but the high Magic Power stat means Byakuren gets high MP within a few battles of grinding. I teach Flare and Ultima, because why not?


Checking up on the stats of our other members. I plan to stop using Shields on Marisa and Patchy heading into Jade, meaning they won't be as fast, but their damaging magic will be comparable to that of Alice. Really, besides the elemental stuff and Aspil, the rest of the skills weren't of much use to train up.

Alice's Evasion is essentially at its peak. The most number of hits any enemy in the game gets is 12 (really rare Iron Giants, essentially the Warmech of this game). In second place are those Generals at 10, and nothing else goes over 8. There's a few enemies that can counter it with Haste, but I can counter that with Blink. Her Holy hit _11_, since I've been using it so much.

Because of the White Robe, Patchouli actually has more Soul than Alice (94 + 10 from the robe). As with the rest of them, I've pretty much only been focusing on Holy - which has hit 10. Heal's at 5, which is good, since it can cure any permanent status but KO (which Life can).


A ton of money. What to do with it all.


Oh yeah. We ready for that final run now.