The first order of business upon loading up my save is to go get Quina back in my party. Once I had the frog lover again, it was time to equip my party. Here's how I set everyone up:
Zidane Vivi Dagger Quina
Mythril Dagger Mage Staff Air Racket Needle Fork
Bandana Magus Hat Mage's Hat
Bone Wrist Bone Wrist Mythril Armlet
Survival Vest Silk Robe Magician Robe Cotton Robe
Germinas Boots Coral Ring Power Belt Gold Choker
______________________________________________________
Protect Girls Insomniac
Alert Loudmouth
Insomniac Auto-Potion
Bandit
This setup is to maximize my chance of success against Lani. Lani will always begin the battle with a physical attack against Dagger and will thereafter always target Dagger with every spell if she is standing. The Magician Robe and Power Belt guarantee that she will survive this first attack. If Lani then decides to use another physical attack, Zidane will cover for her and will probably survive thanks to the Survival Vest. If you don't have a Survival Vest you can give him the Adaman Vest, but then he'll probably get knocked out if he takes a hit for Dagger.
After getting everyone ready, I entered Fossil Roo and ran like mad from Armodullahan. In the battle against Lani, she opened with an attack against Dagger, as expected. I then had Dagger attack Quina for 45 damage and Vivi attack Quina for 44 damage, leaving him with 1 HP (you know what that means!) The chance of them both doing the correct amounts of damage is 1/3. Lani then took her second turn and blasted Dagger with a Fira spell. Zidane then stole the Gladius, and Quina finished it with Limit Glove. I would have preferred to steal the Coral Sword, but the Gladius is good enough for me.
With Lani out of the way, it was time to backtrack and get Armodullahan's Elixir. Before setting out, I gave Vivi the Ice Staff, Zidane the Adaman Vest, and Quina a Bandana, Bone Wrist, and Survival Vest. I also activated Quina's Add Status and Insomniac. The Add Status was for in case Quina got a chance to try and petrify an enemy before Zidane got a turn, but that never happened in my successful run.
I took no chances regarding my party's HP. Before setting out and after every battle I made sure my party was fully healed. I did not want Zidane getting knocked out! The first battle was fine; Zidane was able to Flee right away. The second battle was against two Abominations, so I took the opportunity to learn Night as the guide instructs. However, one of them slapped Zidane and did 120 damage! I didn't think this was possible. I suppose this is an instance of the monster at the top of the list being stronger for no apparent reason as Camdad04 has brought up before. This slowed me down a bit, but I was able to revive Zidane and escape.
After that encounter I reached the Elixir. I then ran up into the next room and back to reset the encounter rate, helping me get through that room without an encounter. I had two more uneventful encounters on my way back to where I fought Lani and celebrated when I made it with a total of only four encounters! I then pressed forward into Fossil Roo, bought Stiltzkin's deal, read the letter from Kuppo, and saved. My time is now 04:30:09. I lost a little bit of time due to my equipping during this circuit instead of the last, the longer strategy against Lani, and having Zidane get knocked out. However, I think the time I saved by not synthesizing the Exploda in Lindblum balances out the time for the Lani fight, so between the two circuits it's still a net gain for me.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
To Pinnacle Rocks and Beyond!
There's one last obstacle to face here and that's Ralvuimago. To face him, I set up my characters as follows:
Zidane Vivi Dagger
Mythril Dagger Ice Staff Multina Racket
Bandana Magus Hat Feather Hat
Glass Armlet Bone Wrist Bone Wrist
Mythril Vest Magician Robe Cotton Robe
Gold Choker Magician Shoes Cachusha
The Magician Shoes are to boost Vivi's magic. Zidane needs the Gold Choker so he can make up some of the AP he lost from getting knocked out in his last Bandersnatch fight. I also made sure to revive Zidane and give Vivi an Elixir. I left all their abilities the same.
In the first round of the fight I had Zidane steal a Phoenix Down, Vivi cast Blizzara, and Dagger defend. Ralvuimago then used Ultra Sound Wave on Zidane, turning him mini. I then repeated Zidane's and Vivi's commands, stealing the Adaman Vest. Ralvuimago then tried to stab Vivi but missed. One more round ended it. Zidane failed to steal the Oak Staff, but I did get the extra Ether drop so I'm satisfied. As a result of this battle, Zidane has mastered Antibody, Vivi has mastered Add Status, and Dagger has mastered Life, Shell, and Chemist.
The major problem with this boss is that it likes to use MT Thundara which wipes out your party. The strategy in the guide makes this a non-issue, but it takes much longer to carry out. It takes so long, in fact, that it's impossible to make the target time following that strategy. With these things in mind, I created an alternate strategy that could be used. It's meant for those times when there's a strong chance Ralvuimago will get a turn before Vivi does. Here's how it goes:
Dagger goes first and attacks. Ralvuimago will then curl up. Zidane should steal every chance he gets. Vivi should focus on his first turn, then cast Blizzara twice once Ralvuimago opens up again. Ralvuimago will get one opportunity to attack between castings of Blizzara, so hope it doesn't mess you up. The second casting of Blizzara will defeat the boss unless Vivi does minimum damage both times. If this ends up being the case, one more attack from Dagger will finish it. This strategy is safer than the one I actually used and is still pretty fast.
With that out of the way, I arrived at Pinnacle Rocks. The only thing really worth mentioning is the fact that the guide's target times assume you don't go back to read the letter from Stiltzkin, so I skipped it. Lindblum is mostly just dialogue skipping, plus a bit of business with Mognet and picking up treasure. I skipped the shopping as I have no need for an Exploda right now. That can wait until I reach the Black Mage Village.
I also skipped saving at the Dragon's Gate because Pinnacle Rocks and Gizamaluke's Grotto aren't too difficult to get through with no encounters. I rode Choco over to the grotto, gave Moguta a Kupo Nut for an Elixir, then hopped back on Choco, headed to Qu's Marsh, got off, and saved. I'm not adjusting my equipment yet because I need to change Quina's as well when I get him. My time is now 04:19:29.
Zidane Vivi Dagger
Mythril Dagger Ice Staff Multina Racket
Bandana Magus Hat Feather Hat
Glass Armlet Bone Wrist Bone Wrist
Mythril Vest Magician Robe Cotton Robe
Gold Choker Magician Shoes Cachusha
The Magician Shoes are to boost Vivi's magic. Zidane needs the Gold Choker so he can make up some of the AP he lost from getting knocked out in his last Bandersnatch fight. I also made sure to revive Zidane and give Vivi an Elixir. I left all their abilities the same.
In the first round of the fight I had Zidane steal a Phoenix Down, Vivi cast Blizzara, and Dagger defend. Ralvuimago then used Ultra Sound Wave on Zidane, turning him mini. I then repeated Zidane's and Vivi's commands, stealing the Adaman Vest. Ralvuimago then tried to stab Vivi but missed. One more round ended it. Zidane failed to steal the Oak Staff, but I did get the extra Ether drop so I'm satisfied. As a result of this battle, Zidane has mastered Antibody, Vivi has mastered Add Status, and Dagger has mastered Life, Shell, and Chemist.
The major problem with this boss is that it likes to use MT Thundara which wipes out your party. The strategy in the guide makes this a non-issue, but it takes much longer to carry out. It takes so long, in fact, that it's impossible to make the target time following that strategy. With these things in mind, I created an alternate strategy that could be used. It's meant for those times when there's a strong chance Ralvuimago will get a turn before Vivi does. Here's how it goes:
Dagger goes first and attacks. Ralvuimago will then curl up. Zidane should steal every chance he gets. Vivi should focus on his first turn, then cast Blizzara twice once Ralvuimago opens up again. Ralvuimago will get one opportunity to attack between castings of Blizzara, so hope it doesn't mess you up. The second casting of Blizzara will defeat the boss unless Vivi does minimum damage both times. If this ends up being the case, one more attack from Dagger will finish it. This strategy is safer than the one I actually used and is still pretty fast.
With that out of the way, I arrived at Pinnacle Rocks. The only thing really worth mentioning is the fact that the guide's target times assume you don't go back to read the letter from Stiltzkin, so I skipped it. Lindblum is mostly just dialogue skipping, plus a bit of business with Mognet and picking up treasure. I skipped the shopping as I have no need for an Exploda right now. That can wait until I reach the Black Mage Village.
I also skipped saving at the Dragon's Gate because Pinnacle Rocks and Gizamaluke's Grotto aren't too difficult to get through with no encounters. I rode Choco over to the grotto, gave Moguta a Kupo Nut for an Elixir, then hopped back on Choco, headed to Qu's Marsh, got off, and saved. I'm not adjusting my equipment yet because I need to change Quina's as well when I get him. My time is now 04:19:29.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Escape From Alexandria
Wow! I am in shock over how well this segment went! I started out by moving Freya to the front row and heading up the stairs. With Freya at level 8 and set up as previously indicated she can survive most of Beatrix's attacks and dish out decent damage as well! The only things that can knock her out are Shock and two normal attacks in a row. Thunder Slash will actually heal her thanks to the Coral Ring (this is why I got 3).
In my fight I had Steiner and Freya attack non-stop. Beatrix used Shock once so I had to have Vivi use a Phoenix Down, but at least it was only one. Zidane showcased his thieving ability well by stealing successfully 3/3 times. The fight ended pretty quickly with all the damage being poured on.
Next comes another benefit of raising Freya's level as I did. When Beatrix joins you here, she starts at Freya's level, which in my case was 8. This makes her strong enough that Climhazzard is guaranteed to kill the Bandersnatch. Thus, Freya is free to knock herself out immediately. Unfortunately, there is a chance she won't do enough damage to do it in one hit, so you may have to do it twice like I did or have the Bandersnatch finish her off for you.
Now it's time to get ready for the big Stop fest. I equipped my party as follows:
Zidane Steiner Vivi Dagger
Mythril Dagger Ice Brand Oak Staff Mythril Rod
Bandana Mythril Helm Mage's Hat Mage's Hat
Glass Armlet Silver Gloves Bone Wrist Bone Wrist
Mythril Vest Chain Mail Magician Robe Silk Robe
Yellow Scarf Coral Ring Gold Choker Cachusha
_________________________________________________________
Protect Girls HP+10% Auto-Potion Ability Up
Insomniac Insomniac
Auto-Potion
Bandit
The next battle against the Type C's went really well. Vivi stopped the first mage immediately. Zidane stole a couple Potions and a Tent. Vivi got toasted with a Fira spell, but I was able to revive him and finish the battle with two more Stops. Steiner mastered Bird Killer after the battle, and I replaced Vivi's Gold Choker with the last Coral Ring and activated Insomniac.
The next Bandersnatch battle went perfectly. I stopped the first one immediately, and the other one wasted its turn using Tongue. Vivi then stopped the second Bandersnatch to secure the win. The battle after that went pretty well except that the Bandersnatch knocked out Zidane before I was able to cast Stop. I was planning to use the AP from all these battles, but luckily I've managed to make some tweaks to my later plans so everything will still work out. I don't want to have to go through this again -- not when Vivi got a perfect 6/6 record on Stops!
The final two Bandersnatch battles went perfectly as well. Beatrix got the first turn and used Climhazzard immediately. In the last battle, Steiner used an Elixir on Beatrix before getting knocked out by the Bandersnatches. Beatrix then used Climhazzard one last time to finish out this series of battles.
With all that done I ran straight to Mosh, picked up his letter, and saved. My time is now 04:00:30, which means I did this part in 14:17. That adds another two minutes to my lead over the target time!
In my fight I had Steiner and Freya attack non-stop. Beatrix used Shock once so I had to have Vivi use a Phoenix Down, but at least it was only one. Zidane showcased his thieving ability well by stealing successfully 3/3 times. The fight ended pretty quickly with all the damage being poured on.
Next comes another benefit of raising Freya's level as I did. When Beatrix joins you here, she starts at Freya's level, which in my case was 8. This makes her strong enough that Climhazzard is guaranteed to kill the Bandersnatch. Thus, Freya is free to knock herself out immediately. Unfortunately, there is a chance she won't do enough damage to do it in one hit, so you may have to do it twice like I did or have the Bandersnatch finish her off for you.
Now it's time to get ready for the big Stop fest. I equipped my party as follows:
Zidane Steiner Vivi Dagger
Mythril Dagger Ice Brand Oak Staff Mythril Rod
Bandana Mythril Helm Mage's Hat Mage's Hat
Glass Armlet Silver Gloves Bone Wrist Bone Wrist
Mythril Vest Chain Mail Magician Robe Silk Robe
Yellow Scarf Coral Ring Gold Choker Cachusha
_________________________________________________________
Protect Girls HP+10% Auto-Potion Ability Up
Insomniac Insomniac
Auto-Potion
Bandit
The next battle against the Type C's went really well. Vivi stopped the first mage immediately. Zidane stole a couple Potions and a Tent. Vivi got toasted with a Fira spell, but I was able to revive him and finish the battle with two more Stops. Steiner mastered Bird Killer after the battle, and I replaced Vivi's Gold Choker with the last Coral Ring and activated Insomniac.
The next Bandersnatch battle went perfectly. I stopped the first one immediately, and the other one wasted its turn using Tongue. Vivi then stopped the second Bandersnatch to secure the win. The battle after that went pretty well except that the Bandersnatch knocked out Zidane before I was able to cast Stop. I was planning to use the AP from all these battles, but luckily I've managed to make some tweaks to my later plans so everything will still work out. I don't want to have to go through this again -- not when Vivi got a perfect 6/6 record on Stops!
The final two Bandersnatch battles went perfectly as well. Beatrix got the first turn and used Climhazzard immediately. In the last battle, Steiner used an Elixir on Beatrix before getting knocked out by the Bandersnatches. Beatrix then used Climhazzard one last time to finish out this series of battles.
With all that done I ran straight to Mosh, picked up his letter, and saved. My time is now 04:00:30, which means I did this part in 14:17. That adds another two minutes to my lead over the target time!
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