More Final Fantasy

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Solo Machinist Victory


Vayne Solidor's airship, the Bahamut, served as the arena for the final boss encounters.  It was a short "dungeon" filled with Archades troops, and seemed to be a much shorter version of the Star Forge from Knights of the Old Republic.  Pharos is the true final dungeon of FF12 due to its length and difficulty compared to the rest of the game.


Gabranth returned to fulfill his role as second-rate Darth Vader, and fought similarly to how he did before.  The master Judge was more difficult this time, and an attempt with Shemhazai was a failure.  Vaan needed a rank 3 Esper for this rematch, so Famfrit shot Briny Cannonades while Vaan used Horology.


(Much of this update comes from Switch screenshots, as I couldn't take detailed notes at the time.)


Vaan rode the elevator up to battle Vayne, the emperor of Archades.  Larsa didn't hold a grudge for being killed off so many times as a Guest character, and sometimes hit his brother with physical attacks.  Vayne in his human form seemed to be a martial arts specialist, as he Kicked and hit with flashy special attacks such as Mach Wave and Force of Will.  Famfrit carried over from the Gabranth battle to spray more Briny Cannonades.


After losing once, Vayne upgraded to his "roid rage" form Vayne Novus.  Round 2 had an annoying tendency to use a variety of "cutscene" special attacks like Inviolable Will.  Nothing as excessive as Sephiroth's Supernova, but it was still annoying to see the action interrupted so often.  It was probably right at the beginning of this phase that Famfrit swung a jar on a chain to flood the arena with Tsunami.  At least one attempt failed here, probably due to trying Shemhazai.


Vayne Novus fell after Vaan summoned Hashmal to throw Roxxors.  He still had to watch out for his floating Sephira sword minions, and often had to drink X-Potions.  Hi Ethers restored Mist, while Remedies dealt with Immobilize freezing Vaan in place.


Vayne's final form was The Undying, a sort of mechanical dragon with remnants of Vayne's human form attached.  Vaan drank an Elixir to recover his HP and Mist, and brought Famfrit back to the field.  Briny Cannonade proved useful, and Horology and the Treaty-Blade provided backup attacks.  The Undying loved to cast "Piercing [-aga]" spells, more cutscene attacks, and to nullify damage temporarily with moves like Perfect Defense.  Vaan came close to losing when Famfrit's Tsunami poured so much Water damage on The Undying that even an ark couldn't save him.


Playing through a solo challenge as a Machinist resembles a "multiclass" variant in another FF game.  That's because enemy stats are so high that you'll need to summon Esper guest characters to survive many boss battles.  And some early fights like Mimic Queen practically require Quickenings.  Vaan was at Level 95 when he battled Vayne, and it's unlikely he could have won at much lower than that.  Machinists have high HP from their licenses, but lack the Defense and Magick Resist to take advantage of it when they're stuck with the worst armor category and lack White Magick. 


Machinist Technicks like Traveler require too much micromanagement to be useful, or are so situational you'll forget about them.  Horology redeems Machinist for much of the midgame, but starts to falter near the end since its max damage at 9 minutes is 81 X Level.  Horology does have the trait of ignoring defenses, however, and Tyrant is the only required battle where Technicks are disabled.  Having to wait for minutes at a time in the pause menu is irritating, and you won't get to enjoy the action when you have to play every boss with the turbo function for efficiency.  At least Machinist exists in Zodiac Age and not in the original FF12, where Horology is half power and takes 4X longer to cast!


As mentioned in a previous update, I probably won't be trying any more "Solo Single Class" challenges for Zodiac Age.  Other jobs may be better than Machinist, but probably not enough to survive without Esper summons.  Three characters with the same class could probably manage a No Quickening and No Esper run, though.


Hopefully the Realms Beyond audience will enjoy this playthrough, even if it's not as well-written as one of Sullla's runs.



Final Stats (just before Vayne's last form)



Level 95 Machinist
 

HP:  6732
MP:  607
Attack Power:  67
Defense:  44
Magick Resist:  46
Evade:  30
Magick Evade:  0
Strength:  84
Magick Power:  77
Vitality:  59
Speed:  41



Weapon:  Treaty-Blade
Off-hand:  Nothing
Helm:  Chaperon
Armor:  Ninja Gear
Accessory:  Hermes Sandals

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 1


"Red Battlemages" is plural because this is a full party playthrough.  Well, except for the Guest characters who will be ritually bludgeoned to death because they're heretics who don't abide by orthodox license boards.  Quickenings and Espers are banned for use in combat, except for that one sequence in Feywood where Belias has to open a door.  But characters may take the licenses for Espers and Quickenings if they're prerequisites for other licenses.


It took some time to decide on which job would be used for this challenge, but Red Battlemage looked the most interesting.  They come with a combination of Black, White, Green, and Time Magick, giving them a variety of spells, but not everything from each category.  This would be familiar to Red Mages from earlier FF games.  What sets Red Battlemages apart is their exclusive access to Arcane Magick, a small school mostly consisting of the Dark family of attack spells. 


Red Battlemages also have a weird weapon class:  Maces.  These blunt weapons don't use Strength at all in their damage formula, but rather Magick Power.  Their Mystic Armor category provides small bonuses to Magick Power as well, and generally offers better protection than the Light Armor the Solo Machinist had to work with.


Vaan Ratsbane's journey began in the Dalmasca Estersand after clearing out the tutorial rodents in Garamsythe Waterway, hacking away at enemies with his starting Dagger as usual.  He purchased a Magick Curch (5 Magick Resist, 2 Magick Power) and a Light Woven Shirt (5 Defense, 2 Magick Power) in Rabanastre, but no weapons or offensive spells were offered yet.  Vaan bought Slow for completion's sake, even though he never used it as of the end of this update.


Penelo temporarily joined the party in the Giza Plains Sunstone quest.  She had lower stats than Vaan in categories save MP, especially in HP.  She became a Red Battlemage since she would join permanently later on.  The party of two killed enemies quickly, but complacency from the player assured they would be eaten by a pack of Hyenas.  Maybe because I'm so used to having to gain excessive levels for solo challenges, I overestimated how well weaker parties could survive.


Penelo abandoned Vaan after the Giza Plains mission, but he found a much more valuable ally:  the Dark spell in the Rabanastre shop.  Testing Dark on a Hyena gave damage printouts of 230s-240s, compared to 40s with each Dagger hit.  It cost 10 MP, so even with gradual MP regeneration from movement, Vaan still conserved it for more difficult opponents.  Vaan perished against a Slaven when Dark barely failed to kill it.


Vaan swiped his first Mace from a Garamsythe Waterway treasure chest, called. . .Mace (17 Attack Power).  The enemies here were trivial with only single digit damage printouts whenever they tried to bite Vaan.  After the "Hey, Buckethead!" sequence at the palace, Fran and Balthier joined the party at Level 7.  Both became Red Battlemages with the appropriate spell and armor licenses.  Neither had Maces, so they had to make do with Shortbow/Onion Arrows and Altair/Onion Shot.


The first wave of Attacks against the Imperial Swordsmen came too quickly for me to react, but Darks put out the lights in their eyes within seconds.  The boss battle with 4 Flans ended with another round of Darks.


Firemane was not much harder, a relief after the pain Solo Machinist endured.  The horse teleported to dodge the first broadside of Darks, but our heroes soon started seeing 220s-240s numbers appearing.  Balthier Blocked a Kick with his Altair, but other melee attacks seemed to strike for 50.  The cutscene attack Bushfire singed Vaan for 87.  Still, Firemane did not have the HP to endure multiple triple digit Darks for long.


Nalbina Dungeon's "boss" with the boxing prisoners was over before I could process what was happening due to Dark.  Barheim Passage's merchant Burrough sold Maces for Balthier and Fran, and Pointy Hats and Silken Shirts that only gave +1 Defense or Magick Resist over previous armor.


Team Red Battlemages had to be careful not to use Dark as an automated Gambit here when its element healed Zombies.  Dark was perfect for Flans and Battery Mimics, however.  It's satisfying seeing 3 spells go off simultaneously in FF12's synchronized turn order like a broadside!


The party returned to Burrough after clearing out much of the dungeon in order to buy Bucklers for their 9 Evade.  Another advantage Red Battlemages have over Machinists is their ability to wield shields to Block more attacks.  A Flan dropped a Topkapi Hat for Vaan with the values of 8 Magick Resist and 3 Magick Power.  Everyone took the Warmage license to recover some MP when inflicting spell damage.


At Level 10, everyone was ready for the Mimic Queen.  No desperation Quickening needed here!  The Red Battlemages ignored the minions and went straight for the boss with 228-303 Darks.  It probably took about 4 Darks total per character given the current MP count at the end of the battle.


Any attempt at a full Stats and Equipment section would be excessive with 3 characters.  Instead, I'll give the levels and equipment to give you a good idea:


Level 10


Weapon:  Mace
Off-hand:  Buckler
Helm:  Topkapi Hat OR Pointy Hat
Armor:  Silken Shirt
Accessory:  Orrachea Armlet OR Nothing

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 2


Before setting off for Bhujerba and its point of no return, the Red Battlemages participated in several Hunts.  Thextera and Flowering Cactoid were so easy at this point that a single volley of Dark spells defeated them both.  The incorporeal Wraith had much more HP but wasted most of its time casting Doom on all 3 characters.  The countdown gave enough time for everyone to bash it with an initial flurry of 50s Attacks and cast 225-278 power Darks.  Wraith's only notable direct damage was a 91 chill to Fran from a Blizzard.


With the upgrade in Clan Rank, the Clan Provisioner sold the Oil spell of the Green Magick school.  This may help later once the party learns Fira, but as of this part it was worthless.


Bhujerba sold the Protect and Shell spells, essential for Attacking enemies with Bronze Maces (24 Attack Power) in the Lhusu Mines.  Many of the monsters there were undead creatures that absorbed Dark, and the Red Battlemages had no other elements yet.  As for armor, Balthier and Fran bought Topkapi Hats, and everyone got Kilimweave Shirts (8 Defense, 3 Magick Power).  Bronze Shields had 11 Evade for Blocking attacks.


The party had to run away from a swarm of Skeletons and Skull Defensers.  There were far too many for Red Battlemages to handle, even after I paid attention to Gambits and swapped out "Attack enemy with highest HP" to "Attack enemy with highest max HP".


It took several tries to take down Ba'Gamnan and his gang at Level 11.  Slow failed against Ba'Gamnan, and Dark seemed to tickle him.  I realized I had to cast Dark on Bwagi, Gijuk, and Rinok to take them out first, then concentrate on Ba'Gamnan with 60s-70s damage Attacks.  Once his stooges were gone, Ba'Gamnan resorted to 36 power Kicks and Water Spouts that could go over 100.  Vaan died once and had to be revived with a Phoenix Down, and the nonrenewable stock of Hi Potions kept the characters healthy.


On Leviathan, a fight with Judges and Archades troops required reviving Balthier and several Hi Potions.  Dark saved the party as usual.  Red Battlemages couldn't afford everything the merchant sold, but they purchased Raise, Aqua, and Disable spells.  At least Raise will save on Phoenix Down expenses. . .


Judge Ghis waited at the end of Leviathan with 3 Imperial Swordsmen.  Red Battlemages took out the unnamed guards with one Dark broadside and equalized everyone at Level 13.  Aqua splashed on the boss for 107-151, while Darks covered him with 304-368 shade.  It seems that Dark has higher base power than other basic elemental spells, similar to how Dark Force is the best 2nd tier elemental spell in Trials of Mana. 


Fran blocked a Kick from Judge Ghis, but no one could evade a 160s-180s Aero spell.  All Red Battlemages drank a Hi Potion to recover from sustained winds, and it was obvious the team would have to enter a Dark vs. Aero damage race rather than try any fancier tactics. 


This episode ended at the Dalmasca Westersand shop, where Solo Machinist got his Horology.  The breakthrough for the Red Battlemages was Cura.  Unlike some FF games, Red Mages don't get lower tier Black and White spells and then stop.  Instead, they may skip lower level magic like Cure and Blizzard and get -ra tier skills.


Penelo and Ashe joined permanently, so now I'll have to decide who will be on the team for the rest of the game.  Fran will probably be on the bench as she has the worst overall stats, and Basch and Balthier are more physically oriented.



Level 13


Weapon:  Bronze Mace
Off-hand:  Bronze Shield
Helm:  Topkapi Hat
Armor:  Kilimweave Shirt
Accessory:  Orrachea Armlet OR Nothing

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 3


As the true main character of FF12, Ashe decided Vaan and Penelo would be her fighting companions for the rest of the game.  They bought Bhuj maces (34 Attack Power) in the Dalmasca Westersand and warped to Bhujerba to confront the Hunt boss Rocktoise.  With the Gambit of "Cura at less than 40% HP", the party managed to fend off the undead in Lhusu Mines with their new maces.


Rocktoise wasn't going to surrender so easily.  Each Bhuj whack hit it for 181-212, while Dark casts inflicted 331-351.  Each one of the tortoise's melee attacks pounded for 186-206, and a Stone Stomp crushed Vaan for 465 after Ashe and Penelo had already died.  Clearly they weren't going to win without gaining more levels, and I decided to mostly ignore the Hunts throughout the main story.  FF12 has so much optional content that if you do it all, you'll be overpowered in the main story.  So I'll probably skip most of them unless I feel like doing postgame Bonus episodes with Red Battlemages.


Not all was lost, however.  By the time Ashe and friends escaped from Lhusu Mines, they grew to Level 15.  Some licenses of note that they took:  +110 HP, Ether Lore 1, Battle Lore.


The next story destination was Raithwall's Tomb, after crossing the "oil rig" deserts Ogir-Yensa Sandsea and Nam-Yensa Sandsea.  Before going there, the party purchased the Aero spell, Wizard's Hats (12 Magick Resist, 4 Magick Power), Wizard's Robes, (12 Defense, 4 Magick Power), and Round Shields (13 Evade).  Equipping a magic party is expensive!


All the enemies in these deserts were easy to kill with regular Attacks, with occasional Curas to heal.  Aero salvos destroyed the Urutan Eater miniboss with 900s-1000 damage per cast.  After all that was. . .another shopping trip.  Dyce sold new equipment while riding his Chocobo, such as Lambent Hats (15 Magick Resist, 4 Magick Power, 3 Speed), Chanter's Djeballas (15 Defense, 4 Magick Power, 5 Vitality), and Golden Shields (15 Evade).


New armor may not have been necessary for Garuda.  Each Aero sliced Vishnu's bird for 500s.  It mostly attacked with physical moves, and once killed Penelo with repeated strikes.  Ashe revived her with Raise and the battle ended in victory.  So far Red Battlemage is an efficient class, but maybe they'll be stuck with -ara spells after Black Mages would have moved on to -aga tier.


Level 19


Weapon:  Bhuj
Off-hand:  Golden Shield
Helm:  Lambent Hat
Armor:  Chanter's Djellaba
Accessory:  Orrachea Armlet OR Bangle OR Nothing

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 4


Solo Machinist had one advantage even a squad of Red Battlemages did not:  a high character level combined with Horology.  The team died on the first try against Demon Wall 1 due to it Reflecting all their Aero spells.  Oops!    


With a Dispel Mote applied, Aero eroded Demon Wall 1 for 410s-430s.  The structure clawed the party for about 157 in melee, though its preferred strategy was to cripple them with ailments like Silence, Sleep, and Doom.  A Telega generated the message "Vaan is cast into the void", and removed him from the battle entirely with the X-Zoned status.  Exdeath would have been proud.  Red Battlemages failed to shatter Demon Wall 1 before it backed them into a more conventional wall for a Game Over.


How did the party get through?  By running away to the door and skipping the boss, of course!  They couldn't flee the weaker Demon Wall 2.  Aero volleys homed in for 440s-500s damage, and the barrier hit back for 92-101 physical damage.  Sleep made Ashe snooze until Penelo gave her a 269 damage headache.  A Telega sent Vaan to the X-Zone, and Penelo was sent to the final dungeon of FF5 as well just before the final Aero from Ashe.  The true threat was Sleep.  If Demon Wall abstained from attacking, it simply could have crushed the party.


Our Red Battlemages purchased Rose Corsages (1 Defense, 1 Magick Power) after this boss and equipped them to become immune to Silence.  Enemies in Raithwall's Tomb were mostly trivial with Attack and Cura, but Penelo was once petrified, resulting in a trip outside to restore her status.


Aqua was useful for perhaps the only time in the game in the Belias battle.  Each cast was 706-815 strength sheepdip.  Belias whacked the Red Battlemages with the staff for about 116-162, and Fire only singed Ashe for about 49.  Greater Barrier added Shell and Protect to Belias until a Dispel Mote nullified it.  As indicated by the cutscene, Firaja was the most dangerous move and scorched the party for around 332.  Penelo probably scored the final Aqua.


Vossler and 3 Imperial Swordsmen betrayed the Red Battlemages on an airship, though the nameless minions were repaid with Aeros Reflected off their leader.  This wasn't intentional:  I had one character use a Dispel Mote, but it didn't activate in time due to item lag.  Vossler kept setting up Reflect, so the Gambits were switched to 250s-270s damage auto-Attack.  Vossler's sword cut for 40s-50s damage, and later 90s-100s after an Enrage boost.  Vossler struck Ashe down with a 5 hit combo, but a Phoenix Down remedied that.  


Most enemies on Ozmone Plain could be killed with Attack and Cura Gambits, but Zus were classified as Flying monsters and had to be eliminated with Aero.  Many melee weapons can't hit Flying targets at all with Attack, especially in the original FF12.  The Zodiac Age version is more merciful and allows Poles, Spears, Rods, and Staves to reach them.


Jahara sold new equipment, but the party couldn't afford some of it.  They bought Miters (42 Attack Power) as their new weapons, which were also Water innate for some reason.  Ice Shields had the same Evade as Golden Shields, but also added a "1/2 damage from Ice" property.  That will be useful for Mateus. . . 


(Why is the Miter a Mace instead of a Helm?)


Level 23


Weapon:  Miter
Off-hand:  Ice Shield
Helm:  Lambent Hat
Armor:  Chanter's Djellaba
Accessory:  Rose Corsage

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 5


Playing a 3 character variant still involves grinding, just for money rather than levels.  Jahara had both Fira and Stona for sale, along with Feathered Caps (18 Magick Resist, 5 Magick Power), and Traveler's Vestments (18 Defense, 5 Magick Power).  Stona became useful immediately in Golmore Jungles when Panthers tried to Petrify the party.  Red Battlemages made for effective auto-Attackers with Cura support as usual. 


The only merchandise the party could afford in the first visit to Eruyt Village was the Thundara spell, though battling in Golmore Jungle for a while gave them the funds for Flame Shields.  Think Ice Shield, but for Fire, and you know exactly what the Flame Shield does.


Henne Mines was another auto-Attack and Cura dungeon, except for Fira melting a mob of Jellies. Tiamat was fought in a similar fashion at Level 28, since it resisted all elements except Earth.  Tiamat Raked the adventurers for 366 damage and tried to prevent them from acting with Disablega.  Equipping Black Belts during the fight meant that any use of Disablega was a free "round" of actions.  Melee smacked the party for 190s, while Aero breezes inflicted 310.  Penelo was stuck with Sap slowly draining her HP throughout the fight, but at least Stona prevented anyone from becoming a statue.  One character was revived with a Phoenix Down, probably Ashe.


Our heroes acquired a few more licenses before the next boss in Golmore Jungle, such as Channeling for -10% MP cost and a few Magick Lores for extra Magick Power.  Class differences are accounted for with licenses, not base stats.  Melee jobs tend to have more Battle Lores, for example.


Elder Wyrm was almost as much of a pain for 3 Battlemages as it was for 1 Machinist.  The lack of Machinist Remedy Lores was clear when the party breathed in a Sporefall for Confuse, Blind, Silence, Oil, Sap, and Slow.  Curing Oil was the top priority because a boosted Fireball would burn any Red Battlemage to cinders.  The party cast Oil on one failed attempt, only to find Elder Wyrm was immune to one of its own ailments.


On the "successful" attempt, the party bashed the Treant minions to death before launching 1000s-1100s power Aeros at Elder Wyrm.  In a case where it was clear I needed to take a break from the game, I forgot to equip Rose Corsages and Flame Shields until late in the fight.  



Level 29


Weapon:  Miter
Off-hand:  Flame Shield
Helm:  Mage's Hat
Armor:  Mage's Habit
Accessory:  Rose Corsage

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 6


Mt. Bur-Omisace sold new spells like Curaga, Darkra, and Blizzara to the Red Battlemage team.  Curaga is interesting in FF12 because it's not a straight upgrade to Cura.  Cura heals all allies within a radius, while Curaga only affects 1 person.  In exchange, Curaga restores more HP than Cura and costs slightly less MP.  This mechanic of different spell levels having trade-offs reminds me of a similar system in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.  Cure in that game is instant, Cura restores HP gradually, and Curaga creates a healing field.


The party also acquired new weapons and armor.  Thorned Mace (53 Attack Power) had a side effect of Poisoning enemies.  Lamia's Tiara (25 Magick Resist, 4 Magick Power, 7 Vitality) decreased Ice damage by half, while Enchanter's Habit (25 Defense, 7 Magick Power, 10 Vitality) had no gimmicks.


Stilshrine of Miriam's enemies fell to the usual tactic of auto-Attack and Cura.  When fighting Vinuskar, I couldn't read the damage printouts for the initial Attack wave because the numbers were placed in a weird spot, but rotating the camera showed Darkra dealing 1400s-1600s.  Vinuskar died too quickly to make for thrilling commentary.


Mateus made up for Vinuskar's underwhelming performance.  He started with Reflect, leaving a nasty surprise for Vaan and friends when they tried to cast Fira on him.  Sleep from the Ice Azers ended whatever chances the party had of salvaging the battle. 


On Take 2, the party took the license prerequisite for Nishijin Belts accessories to negate Sleep and tried Reflecting Firas off of themselves with a Reflectga Mote.  Mateus must have had tremendous Magick Resist if the spells only singed him for up to 600s damage.  The team held out until Mateus was between 2/3 and 1/2 max HP, but succumbed once it seemed that Reflect wore off.


Take 3 was when the party took the no-nonsense approach and bashed Mateus and his ice goddess hostage in the face with Thorned Maces.  This resulted in 500s-600s damage Attacks.  Mateus cast Blizzaja with a power between 300 and 400.  Vaan and Penelo suffered from Sap draining their HP late in the fight, but even 620s Curagas from the Ice Azers couldn't save Mateus from becoming the team's next Pokemon Esper that they'd never buy the license to unlock.


When the Red Battlemages got the Sword of Kings in a skipped cutscene, I realized it had exactly the same Attack Power as the Thorned Mace.  And the Thorned Mace gets 4 Evade from its weapon category and a Poison chance.  You only realize how abysmal Machinist equipment options are when you play a better class. . .


Judge Bergan's nameless Judges were taken out with volleys of Darkras, and he perished in the same manner.  The lesser Judges burst out with 230s strength Water Spouts, while Bergan himself preferred melee in the 590s range.  Vaan collapsed just before the bout ended, but this isn't Wild Arms 3 where you earn most experience in boss fights.  (Or any at all.)


Next up was the filler journey to Archades.  Along the way, the party easily destroyed the Wild Saurian in Dalmasca Estersand with auto-Attacks at Level 33.  You know it had to happen sometime in the playthrough.  Mosphoran Highwaste had some new equipment for the party, although they couldn't afford it all.  Chaos Mace (69 Attack Power) had a Confuse chance instead of Poison.  Black Cowl (33 Magick Resist, 5 Magick Power, 4 Speed) gave a welcome increase to Speed, a stat which grows slowly via level, as seen in the Solo Machinist challenge.



Level 33-34


Weapon:  Chaos Mace
Off-hand:  Ice Shield
Helm:  Black Cowl
Armor:  Enchanter's Habit
Accessory:  Rose Corsage

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 7


Salikawood, Phon Coast, Tchita Uplands, and Sochen Cave Palace were mostly uneventful as far as random enemies were concerned.  Auto-Attack + Cura, with the occasional Darkra for Flying monsters, was as efficient a strategy as ever. 


The party fought King Bomb just for the sake of challenge.  They lost on the first try, but won with a modified Gambit and equipment configuration.  Flame Shields reduced damage from Fire element spells, and Ashe wore the Gillie Boots (3 Defense, 1 Strength, 10 Speed) for Oil immunity.  The party concentrated on the Bombs with the help of "Attack leader's target" AI, and King Bomb itself was whittled down with Chaos Mace bashes.  Renew healed the boss and prolonged the fight, but the team of Red Battlemages got their satisfaction.


Phon Coast's shop sold high tier spells like Firaga and Aeroga that the party couldn't use, but they did appreciate Crystal Shields for 25 Evade and 10 Magick Evade.  



Mandragoras in Sochen Cave Palace ran away from the party, forcing the Red Battlemages to chase them down.  This is funny to watch at 4X speed.  Another Attack + Cura fest, but dead characters had to be revived occasionally.  Ahriman at least Confused our heroes with Phantasmal Gaze and made them bludgeon each other with Chaos Maces.  It wasn't enough to prevent another easy victory.  At this point, the game is on autopilot most of the time, and less thrilling than the Solo Machinist run.  If I ever do another challenge for this game, it'll probably be a "duo character" version.  Solos have to summon Espers and unleash Quickenings to win, while 3 character teams are too strong.



Level 39


Weapon:  Chaos Mace
Off-hand:  Crystal Shield
Helm:  Black Cowl
Armor:  Black Garb
Accessory:  Nishijin Belt OR Gillie Boots

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 8


The only new item the party purchased in Archades was the Doom Mace, which inflicted Doom on enemies as a side effect.  This was generally useless since 3 characters finished enemies off with Attack faster than the countdown, but you can't argue with 75 Attack Power.  Only the standard Archades troops stood in the Red Battlemages' way in Draklor Laboratory, but Dr. Cid merited the position of a boss fight at Level 40.


Dr. Cid was surrounded by multiple Rooks that guarded him from damage, and supported him with spells such as Reflect and Curaga.  The initial idea to take the floating robots out with Darkra was a resounding failure that wiped out the party.  On Take 2, I set up the Gambits so the AI would disable the Rooks with brute force before smashing Dr. Cid with 1400s-1600s power Attacks.  Cid's S-27 Tokamak reflected gunshots off mirrors for 640s damage, but was no match for simple Mace class Magick Power.


Some money grinding was required when the party started window-shopping in Balfonheim Port.  They had to buy Hypnocrowns (44 Magick Resist, 2 Strength, 7 Magick Power), Jade Gowns (44 Defense, 8 Magick Power), and their exclusive Darkga spell.


Rafflesia in Feywood cheated with its MP-draining arena, preventing the party from healing each other with Cura.  It was a pure "damage race" with 1600s-1800s Doom Maces vs. Sap ailments, 300s flower power melee, and Malboros that were Cried For Help.  The Red Battlemages reached the finish line, with the help of some Hi Potions and an X-Potion.


Giruvegan's first encounter was the "roadblock" of the Red Battlemages challenge.  As much as you can say that's the case in an RPG you can play at 4X speed.  The first 5 or so attempts vs. Daedalus occurred at Level 42, and I tried many tactics to try to win without leveling.  At that time, each Doom Mace bash hit for 1300s-1800s, while enemy melee struck for 420s-480s.  Occasionally Daedalus used the party's own Darkra spell against them for 490s-530s power.  Ice Break icicles cracked for 600s-700s.  Tremors shook the arena for about 470s.  Red Battlemages managed to survive those with Cura, but Smite of Rage pulverized them whenever the boss went into critical HP.


Darkga would have been worthless here too, as Daedalus was immune to its element.  Starting on Take 3, the party used a Dispel Mote to remove Daedalus's Haste, and on Take 4, I found out the boss was immune to Slow and Disable.  Take 5 was promising when a Shock Mote jolted Daedalus for about 3800 (?) damage, but it still wasn't enough to outpace Smite of Rage.  


Besides a gradual increase in stats, a grinding session in Cerobi Steppe yielded enough LP to collect the few remaining HP increasing licenses on the Red Battlemage board.  At Level 42, the team had 2100s-2300s health, while at Level 45, they had risen to 2585-2781 HP.  Takes 6-8 were failures, even with one tactic of changing the "Cura to ally" Gambit to a "Curaga to self" routine.  Protect buffed the party's Defense at the start of Take 9, and the last member died just when Daedalus had a sliver of HP remaining.  


Another grinding session brought the Red Battlemages to Level 47 and the last HP license.  With 3168-3378 max health, Daedalus fell at last.  It took a few in-battle resurrections, but the Red Battlemages had conquered the only major obstacle of the variant.  The rest of the game will probably be simple, especially since Red Battlemages don't care about Technicks being forbidden in Tyrant's lair.  Traps are still awful when the entire team can drop dead in the Cerobi Steppe without warning.  Anyone who scorns autosave features will change their mind when seeing some of the practical jokes FF12 tries on the player.


After this variant is done, I'll be trying out a game that will be familiar to Realms Beyond readers, if it arrives on time.



Level 47


Weapon:  Chaos Mace
Off-hand:  Crystal Shield
Helm:  Hypnocrown
Armor:  Jade Gown
Accessory:  Bowline Sash or Nishijin Belt

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

FF 12 Zodiac Age Red Battlemages Part 9


Vaan, Penelo, and Ashe clubbed Giruvegan's monsters to death.  Certainly a contrast to Solo Machinist running away from most encounters.  Tyrant was the harshest challenge for Solo Machinist because it nullified Horology, his main source of damage.  Red Battlemages were capable of learning some Technicks, but didn't care about them at all here.  Blizzara gave Tyrant 2700s-3000s frostbite, while the dragon retaliated with a 1164 Fireball. 


Tyrant bit Red Battlemages with 879 Sonic Fangs, Lunged at the group for 1109, and cast its own Blizzagas and Darkras for 987 damage at best.  Piercing Graviga exploited the party's max HP licenses to crush them for up to 1731.  For reasons known only to the AI programmers, Tyrant ignored Vaan and Ashe for much of the fight and whaled on Penelo.  For being a fragile character in the FF12 cast, she handled herself well.


Great Crystal would have been aggravating without autosave between screens.  Ashe and Penelo were infected with a Disease that reduced their max HP to 1, while Vaan's health was constantly draining from Sap.  Ashe and Penelo were prone on the ground for much of the time, save for casting Darkga when they were awake.  Vaan performed better than I expected, making me think a solo Red Battlemage challenge with no Espers or Quickenings may be possible at very high levels with Shields and White Magic.  If anyone wants to test this, feel free to try.


Shemhazai confronted the party when they were at Levels 48-49.  At first, Doom Mace swings knocked off around 2000 HP, but as the fight dragged on, their power dropped into the 400s range.  Pause menu trickery stopped a Silencega when everyone put on Rose Corsages as a free action.  Shemhazai's spells such as Shock and Flare seared for 2400s-3300s, but had the flaw of being single target and therefore survivable with Cura support.  The Red Battlemages didn't even need to use a Dispel Mote to undo Shemhazai's Haste status.


Shemhazai as an Esper unlocks the path to the Cleanse and Esuna license, but only for one character.  Cleanse cures Disease, though it's not worth the trouble since it's in a rare random treasure in Cerobi Steppe.  FF12 loves to copy the bad habits of MMORPGs in the postgame. . .


Bubble is another option for Red Battlemages to block Disease and double max HP temporarily, though you can only buy the spell if you increase your Clan Rank through Hunts.  Doing so would probably overlevel my party anyway.


Balfonheim Port sold no new weapons  Our heroes envied the other classes whose weapons were at least in the 80s Attack Power range.  They could still pick on the poor Machinists who were stuck with Guns or the Treaty-Blade!  The Red Battlemages purchased Celebrant's Miters (50 Magick Resist, 6 Magick Power, 5 Speed) and Cleric's Robes (50 Defense, 9 Magick Power), some status immunity accessories, and prepared for the Pharos climb.  Almost at the end!



Level 48-49


Weapon:  Doom Mace
Off-hand:  Crystal Shield
Helm:  Celebrant's Miter
Armor:  Cleric's Robes
Accessory:  Rose Corsage