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Mega64 posted:Long Reach lets characters attack for full damage from the front row,
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Sep 22, 2016 09:18
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Kheldarn posted:Isn't it from the back row? Xander77 posted:Back row, presumably? Technically front row, too. Went ahead and fixed, forgot to earlier, thanks!
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Sep 22, 2016 10:11
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Mega64 posted:And that's almost solely for attacking for full damage from the back row, since as far as I remember only the game's super boss and maybe a couple other enemies can be out of reach Only one that immediately springs to mind is Black Waltz 3 on the cargo ship, but only as a counter to being hit in the first place, so uh it's not a very common thing at all, no. I think there's one later boss on this disc that's always out of regular melee Attack range but I'm not 100% sure on that one.
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Sep 22, 2016 17:22
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Dragonatrix posted:Only one that immediately springs to mind is Black Waltz 3 on the cargo ship, but only as a counter to being hit in the first place, so uh it's not a very common thing at all, no. I think there's one later boss on this disc that's always out of regular melee Attack range but I'm not 100% sure on that one. Black Waltz 3 doesn't move out of range, he starts flying mid-battle but that just means he's about to use more powerful attacks.
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Sep 22, 2016 18:04
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ApplesandOranges posted:Black Waltz 3 doesn't move out of range, he starts flying mid-battle but that just means he's about to use more powerful attacks. And I think he gets some "flying" vulnerabilities while he is.
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Sep 22, 2016 21:09
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  We're pretty much done with sidequests, but there's still a few things I'm gonna do before jumping back into the plot. First, let's revisit Alexandria post-explosion.    The place has definitely seen better days, but there seem to be significantly less casualties here than there were in Lindblum. Of course, that could've changed if I didn't talk to all eight soldiers at the beginning of the game and remembered what things they all excelled at.    They could stand to do a bit more work now, though.   We can't access the castle or the other tower due to all the nothing they are now. We can still take a boat into town, though.  Also there's a good amount of loot, mostly more gems.  Uh, she's here right now. I want to make sure she gets to experience everything her leadership has resulted in. Surely that will fix her depression, right?  Depends on the game. Regular card games I'm kinda mediocre, but I'm usually pretty good at more modern board game-type card games. Tetra Master is a trick question because there's no skill involved.   Thanks for the toilet paper.  In most cases, it's fun to play with friends or with new people or whatever. Again, the exception is Tetra Master.  This is the new location for the weapon salesman. Sells the same stuff as before.     A majority vote will determine the policy to be submitted! Boy... We're full of ideas, aren't we? Let us take a vote tomorrow!...This might take awhile to rebuild.   Next stop, the inn to further the adventures of the terrible innkeeper.   Y-Yes, I'm sorry... Oh, and that makes everything better!? We made a reservation!  How many nights will you be staying? Well, let's see... We were going to stay three nights. I understand. Please wait one moment.  A room will be available later this evening. How is that? Later tonight, huh...? Of course, we'll be offering a 20% discount for your inconvenience. Okay! Agreed! Thank you. Would you please sign in here? Hippaul's already a big step up from his inept and useless waste of a father. It's a good thing he takes after his scary-as-gently caress mother.    Seriously, you're loving hopeless dude, how did you end up running a loving inn anyway.  The synthesist walks around the alley sometimes and will synth stuff as usual. Same as before.   What in tarnation are we supposed to do? So Lowell has finally arrived at Alexandria, and he's as humble and accepting of this place as you'd expect.  Yeah, kinda hard to run a production with a whopping two people and all.    Guy needs to learn some tips from Zidane. I'm sure Zidane would be happy to teach him a thing or two.   Feeding the fish was my favorite pashtime.  They must've known I was away! How do you keep losing that drat cat!?    I'm glad my big brother is doing well, kupo!I could've sent this at the start of Disc 3 but then I'd miss out on a Kupo Nut I can trade in for a free Tent or whatever the hell.  Now to go south and check out the rest of the area.    But the city needs to be rebuilt. We all have our place in life, buddy! Yours is to cook delicious food for the people of this city! Hmm, he has a point!Sometimes it's best to focus on what we're best at. Or maybe sometimes we should just pick up a hammer instead of using a frying pan.   Well, the inn has-no, wait, it's full. The theater...wait, it's only star isn't doing poo poo. Uhhhh, you can hammer nails maybe?  Look on the bright side, there's no more cities to destroy! Well, I guess Conde Petie maybe. Hope you like dwarves!  FF9 has a plumbing system, this is canon.    I think Ilia's statement sums everything up nicely. The plaza is gone now, so we've seen everything there is to Alexandria. Now for a few loose ends.  Let's check out Flare for kicks.   The effect is pretty sweet, but the damage...  HOLY loving poo poo.  Next up, we'll visit some gates. You can't actually reach this without a Mountain Chocobo since it's high up in the mountains.    What's the purpose of your visit? The Berkmea is not operating right now. What are you doing in a sleepy place like this?Gonna catch up a bit and loot a couple things I forgot to get.    There's nothing for me to do here, but there's no way for me to go back home to Lindblum. I hope Regent Cid builds his new airship soon.The people here are essentially stranded since there's no Mist to propel them down.   Hee hee.Not that all of them care.   I'm glad the Mist is gone, but it's certainly inconvenient.OK, we're done here.  Remember that exit in Gizamaluke's Grotto that leads to a nasty forest? We can use that as a shortcut now to deliver our Kupo Nuts. But on the way there, I accidentally trigger another friendly animal.   This is Garuda.  It doesn't mince words. Pretty direct, this one.    I...guess it's happy?  40AP and a Diamond is definitely not bad. After Nymph, there's a progression where you give a creature a specific gem and then it gives you a gem to give to the next one. I accidentally triggered the last in the chain, but honestly you can do them in any order and it doesn't matter. There's a last one that requires you to get all the other ones first. I only need two more to trigger the last one, but I can't do one of them quite yet.  The South Gate near Evil Forest has a couple of Elixirs now, so might as well grab those.  I'm telling you, don't go inside.Still can't re-enter Ice Cavern. Next up, Dali.    I'm running short of money. I hope he has a new business plan.The mayor's back and everyone still likes the prick for some reason.   There must be another way to make easy money... Let's be honest, he lucked into his last cash cow.   When I look at him, I forget about all the horrible things going on. Gotta take whatever escapism you can get, I guess.  Everyone else gets in the way of my success! <Hiccup!>  My son was there. He escaped in one piece, thank heavens. You'd think a near-death experience would change his outlook, but he's still as greedy as ever. This kinda implies she's the mother of the mayor and the innkeeper. Kinda adds a bit to her feeling out of touch with the rest of the money-hungry town.  Our last stop today is Treno. There's a couple new items to grab here.     Tot is back, though the gargant isn't.  We had another Stellazzio to turn in, netting more cash.  So, the first item isn't a big deal. The Promist Ring boosts Strength and teaches Magic Elem Null to Vivi, Absorb MP to Quina (Quina absorbs the MP of enemy spells that hit them), and Restore HP to the four offensive fighters (if they take damage while under 1/6 their Max HP and they survive, they recover 50% of their max HP).  This one cost me a whopping 35200 Gil, but god drat is it worth it.  These pretty much do one thing: Teach Zidane Master Thief. Master Thief is the last ability to buff Steal, and it's a huge one. You know how semi-rare steals have a 1/16 chance of triggering, and rare a wonderful 1/256 chance? Master Steal changes both of those to 1/8 chance each. Much better odds. Even better, Steal will now skip item slots where the slots are empty. Huge, huge time-saver now for bosses.  Finally, we've jumped a good bit just between now and our last trip to Treno. Chocographs count for a lot, remember. Next time, we'll revisit the Black Mage Village and finally get back to the story.
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Sep 24, 2016 01:36
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Fun fact about the Promist Ring: you can buy as many as you want from the auction as long as you don't have any in your inventory. The weird thing is that it doesn't count Promist Rings equipped on your characters. For reasons that I'm sure Simon will explain, this drives completionists insane.
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Sep 24, 2016 02:11
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Mega64 posted:These pretty much do one thing: Teach Zidane Master Thief. Master Thief is the last ability to buff Steal, and it's a huge one. You know how semi-rare steals have a 1/16 chance of triggering, and rare a wonderful 1/256 chance? Master Steal changes both of those to 1/8 chance each. Much better odds. Even better, Steal will now skip item slots where the slots are empty. Huge, huge time-saver now for bosses.  Actually, if memory serves, the four steal rates are something like 1/2, 1/8, 1/64, and 1/256, with Master Thief changing the last two to 1/32. Not QUITE as broken as what you've described, but still, drat good. If only we could've had that poo poo for Hilgigars and Tantarian.
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Sep 24, 2016 06:09
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I honestly don't know what they were thinking with giving Vivi the ability Mag Elem Null. There is absolutely no circumstances in this game that would warrant using it. At no point are you confined to one element that gets blocked or absorbed. I guess maybe if you wanted to use Water long term? Or maybe it was originally planned so that it makes Vivi immune to elemental magic and changed it late in development?
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Sep 24, 2016 06:20
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I honestly don't know what they were thinking with giving Vivi the ability Mag Elem Null. There is absolutely no circumstances in this game that would warrant using it. At no point are you confined to one element that gets blocked or absorbed. I guess maybe if you wanted to use Water long term? It doesn't even make sense in the "Maybe you're missing the -aga this boss is weak against" argument, considering. And by the time you reach that ability, the -aga are the only elemental spells worth using.
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Sep 24, 2016 07:55
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Also Flare exists. If Mag Elem Null was cheap to equip then it wouldn't matter, but I think it costs... what, 9 stones?
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Sep 24, 2016 08:27
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If I had to hazard a guess, I suspect that they originally planed to either make it available at the -ra level or have each of the -aga spells on a different piece of equipment the way the -ra spells work. If that was the case, it would be entirely plausible to only have one flavor of your most powerful spell tier available only to find that there's a lot of stuff immune to it (especially if they designed the ability list before they worked out the game progression), and this would give the player a way to mitigate that risk.
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Sep 24, 2016 08:31
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It might be useful in random encounters where enemies have different resistances and you want to multitarget them, since that's Flare's only drawback. Maybe also if you want to use party reflect and Reflectx2 and the enemy resists fire, ice, and lightning? But that's a lot of stones you need to use.
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Sep 24, 2016 17:49
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So for the next update I've already got Freya's ultimate weapon. Chocobo Hot & Cold is loving sick, y'all.
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Sep 24, 2016 18:29
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So how many is that now? Whale Whisker, Dragon's Hair, and Tiger Racket? Also, I kinda want to replay IX now. Thanks Mega. 
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Sep 24, 2016 18:50
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Mega64 posted:So for the next update I've already got Freya's ultimate weapon. I never could find that thing. I don't see how you would have any clue to dig there without a guide. FFIX is really good about giving you hints and clues in-game but a couple things here and there are totally "look up Gamefaqs."
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Sep 24, 2016 19:00
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4 out of 9 of the ultimate weapons come from CH&C. 5 out of 9 if you don't count Excalibur 2. The Whale Whisker and the Tiger Racket are both pretty underwhelming for "ultimate" weapons. Neither of them have special properties or stat bonuses, and neither of them teaches anything unique. There's literally no reason to even equip the Whale Whisker. Dagger and Eiko's real ultimate weapon is the Magic Racket, because it's the only one with a stat bonus.
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Sep 24, 2016 19:04
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...But the Whale Whisker looks cool so it evens out
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Sep 24, 2016 19:08
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Fister Roboto posted:4 out of 9 of the ultimate weapons come from CH&C. 5 out of 9 if you don't count Excalibur 2. As funny as it sounds, Dagger/Eiko can actually do some decent physical damage with the Tiger Racket. Rackets are long-range and they're Wind-based, so you can increase the damage further with +Wind equipment. Also, Dagger does have one other +stat weapon: the Stardust Rod gives +2 Spirit.
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Sep 24, 2016 20:22
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Not sure if this is an appropriate place to put it, but you guys might be interested. I'm going for the Excalibur 2 Perfect Run, and we're on disk 1 right now: https://www.twitch.tv/gamesfreak13563
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Sep 24, 2016 22:35
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Aw. Hippaul's growing up, too.
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Sep 25, 2016 06:00
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I honestly don't know what they were thinking with giving Vivi the ability Mag Elem Null. There is absolutely no circumstances in this game that would warrant using it. At no point are you confined to one element that gets blocked or absorbed. I guess maybe if you wanted to use Water long term? So many abilities and passives in FF9 are completely loving useless, Mag Elem Null doesn't even register on my radar. I mean I love the game and all, but a well-thought out and balanced combat system it has not. Or upgrade progression. You just have to glance at Quina's Blue Magic list to wonder what the hell they tried to achieve with their weird-rear end formulas and miss chances. Or almost all of Zidane's abilities, especially considering the eternal "I could be stealing instead" conundrum. Mega has mentioned before the numerous interactions with the Attack command abilities have, and almost all of them are worthless because, get this, you very rarely use it. But what's even more egregious than how bad Long Reach is for its cost is how many things depend on the enemies' Attack command. Counter (and Eye 4 Eye because Counter was too good to always succeed), Gamble Defense (itself rather poo poo), Cover and Protect Girls...except for certain bosses where the latter two are good strategies, you almost never get attacked normally by random encounters, making everything on the list functionally useless. You get hit by Needles, by Strikes, by Headbutts, numerous fire breaths and thunderfarts and whatever, but almost never attacked. None of your defenses and counters are ever relevant. FFX by comparison has Evade+Counter for example which is really good because so many enemies do actually just try and hit you in the face. It's less flashy and flavorful, but it gives you a combat system with abilities that matter. E+C also has 100% success chance because everything else just isn't worth it. Of course, FFX is far more technical than FF9 to begin with (rock-paper-scissors system, anyone?), but let's face it, the combat is just far more fun as a result. Fister Roboto posted:Fun fact about the Promist Ring: you can buy as many as you want from the auction as long as you don't have any in your inventory. The weird thing is that it doesn't count Promist Rings equipped on your characters.
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Sep 25, 2016 12:27
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I wouldnt say FF9's combat system is unfun It at least keeps every character unique besides when you get down to it, each combat system eventually devolves into spam of whatever is most effective (FFX for instance turns into Quick Hit madness)
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Sep 25, 2016 13:07
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Mega64 posted:
Obvious reference is obvious
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Sep 25, 2016 16:13
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Reminds me of Zack and Aerith, to be honest. Though the Mr. Personality comment sounds more like Pre-Lifestream Cloud.
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Sep 25, 2016 18:34
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The one thing I really hated about FF9's combat system is the fact that it always seems to take a goddamn eternity for someone to actually do something after you gave them the command to do so, making it look like the the party was always purposefully letting the enemies go first. That is, besides Trance being an useless time-wasting pile of poo poo of a mechanic, but that's been pointed out numerous times already.
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Sep 25, 2016 19:56
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3x speed in FFIX PC is so useful.
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Sep 25, 2016 20:29
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 CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A moogle eats a piece of dead pepper "this is pretty good"  Beatrix is back, and she kept her levels from last disc. For a brief shining moment, we have a character who can take damage and toss out power moves.  Relish in it.  Tinhank gets owned immediately by a Fira. That's okay, he was about to shank himself for me. Mega64 used Steiner for offense while Beatrix kept the team healthy with Cura. Me?  CLIMHAZZARD  STOCK BREAK   I keep up with the demanding MP costs by using Ethers and Elixirs wildly.  Her helmet's magic defense and Save the Queen halving fire damage makes Fira a tickle. Save the Queen also boosts all of Beatrix's stats, even though you can't really tell because she has no other weapons.  SHOCK   Climhazzard is fairly short of the one-shot.  Unlike with the Bandersnatch, Beatrix can tank hits really well and Stock Break the problem away.   One Mistodon, one Shock.   Her physical attack is respectable, too.   An elixir here, then a second physical, and this Mistodon is down with few problems.  This is the only battle in the whole sequence that doesn't give Beatrix a level.  "Well, I will, at least."  Heck yes, Climhazzard rolled high on the left Mistodon and OHKOed it.  And to close the event, Beatrix shocks the other one to hell.  Goodbye, Beatrix. Goodbye, Beatrix's levels.   The rest of the event is running towards cutscene triggers. Tantarian gives 12,585 experience and no way to avoid it. Alack! It'd be near impossible anyway as Paper Storm would wipe the party and I don't have the power moves to blow through it yet.  This sequence is running towards cutscene triggers as well.  Well, besides the stellazio.  And finally biting the bullet on getting the Angel Bless. Thievery is impossibly important at level 1.  And then, Chocobo Hot & Cold. A lot of it. All of it I can do at this point.  Hm, yes, this is a good place to save.  I wait until Choco gets the Ocean power to dig up things, if only because it means less time not on Choco and thus less time to get into random encounters.  Oh? What neat loot is he  Well. That explains why they can't deliver mail. They were stuck in a loving mountain. Music here is a remix of Mog's theme from FF6. Maybe Mega64 will link it, some day. Anyway there's nothing for me to do here because I've been kinda lovely at delivering letters.  Ocean is my least favorite Chocograph and it always takes entirely too long to actually nail down which tiny loving spot in the massive loving area where Choco goes "Kweh!?" So here's the exact spot with the nearest landmass for reference. gently caress you, Ocean. The Light Robe is another one of those "makes this challenge possible" items. This is also the summary image for me grabbing everything available through CH&C at this point. The items are all valuable, but there's simply too many for me to go through and most of them are little bonuses.  I deliver all the stellazio, for cashmoneys.  Unlike Griffon, I can actually take on this monster.  And by "I" I mean I'm making Quark do it.  They, predictably, get stoned. And owned. Stowned.  But that leaves them at 1 HP for me. Losing to the Knight's monster leaves the participant at 1 HP each time.  Quark has exactly enough magic stones for Auto-Reflect.  If the Catoblepas heaves or stones Quark, they lose, but there's no opportunity cost to this.  If it casts Thundara, it just hits itself, and Quark notably does not get plastered or fossilized.  "Fire glove" Quark shoot at Catoblepas and blood his face off. "NO!"  It's antoher lump some of cashmoneys.  I wait out the auction by practicing NPC clipping. My favorite is the red-caped fellow in front, as being so wide it's easy to stop halfway through and be some John Carpenter bullshit, all while people bet on old FF references.  I have literally no idea why I decided to get this now.  This, though, helps with quite a few things. Notably, the next boss, who has a steal that makes the challenge possible. Well, that's a bit far. It's more logistics and technicalities than not having this item makes a certain section impossible without levels. But I really want it anyway.  Anyway, that's it for stuff. Next time: grinding on random encounters.
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Sep 27, 2016 21:36
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Hah, completely forgot about Mognet Central. Been so long I didn't remember when you could first access it, figured it'd be after the next big plot thing or Disc 4 or something. I'll probably wait to show it off in a few updates since I've got the next two or three updates recorded already.
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Sep 27, 2016 21:46
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quote:Gonna preface from now on to prevent possible confusion: I'm quoting from the Excalibur 2 Perfect Game Guide! This is how not to only beat the game at low level, but to also make a speedrun of it, and how to also not miss any missable items! It's elaborate as hell and maybe slightly insane! First of all, we're gonna catch up to the beginning of OFS' post. Because you know what you do before Alexandria gets destroyed? code:I will post this in its entirety; bask in its glory, for someone spent a long, long time coming up with average speedrun times for motherfucking Hippaul. code:And we're not done with missable sidequests! Of course, as this is a 100% OF EVERYTHING EVER, this needs to be done. All the items in Alexandria, the detour to Dali, the major's key, and the coffee. Oh, but about that... code:Anyway, then Alexandria gets attacked and the Mistodons are dealt with using Beatrix...and her Life spells. No cool Climhazzard for the optimal strategy! But now it's time to dunk on our favourite challenge runner. Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:
But you are correct, there is no way to avoid the XP. This is where one of the possibly craziest features of the run comes in: of course you cannot skip Tantarian in a 100% perfect game, but that does mean someone has to gain levels. There is a gigantic section at the start of this guide which I haven't talked about at all yet, because this is the only time it's relevant: you have to decide which character is the one to gain levels, and with which equipment on them to make those levels not "wasted". This pretty much means that a single character will always end up with something like 99/99/98/99/99 stats and you can choose the character and where the 98 is. I have read this guide like three times because it's fun but this is too much for me, I cannot deal. Anyway, there are six different paths you can take (and some minor decisions along the way have sometimes been influenced by those choices), and each of them have different Tantarian preparations, an excerpt: code:And "strategy X" means that there are different (okay, "only" two) more ways the actual fight has to go in order for you to succeed. I will give you the longer one (it's just an extension for extra craziness at the end), this is specifically for Freya to survive and get the levels. Of course, she has all the "correct" equipment. code:quote:
code:code:quote:
code:quote:
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Note: this is really long anyway. I will talk about the Promist Ring thing maybe after the next normal update or sth.
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Sep 27, 2016 22:16
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I am glad I never even went for the regular excalibur II run
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Sep 27, 2016 22:22
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Is the moogle in the castle there for Tantarian?
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Sep 28, 2016 14:08
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  We're finally done with sidequests, at least for now. The plot has led us to Black Mage Village, so that's where we're gonna start on the hunt for Kuja.    Where did they go? I'm gonna go look around. Black Mage Village is indeed deserted. The chocobo hut is locked, but all the other stores are deserted. There's only one sign of life (besides the moogle) over to the west end... SILENCE   They went away with Kuja... Two other guys stayed behind. They're probably at the chocobo shack. Why!? Why did they go with him!? They learned about our lifespan... We can live only for a given amount of time. He's lying! I bet he's lying! Look what he's done to us. He's been using us, treating us like puppets. ! Come on. That's nonsense. ...Where did they go? ...I can't tell you that. I can't betray them. ...... You said the two other guys are in the chocobo shack, right? ...... No. 288 isn't talkative anymore. Now our only hope lies with the two mages in the chocobo hut.  Vivi... Please! Open the door!SOUND OF A CHOCOBO'S CRY   !? Oh...    Finally...  I still can't believe it... Yeah... I don't understand. Why are you here? We're here to look after the chocobo. At first, we were gonna go with everyone, but someone had to stay behind to look after the chocobo egg, so we stayed. We kept the egg nice and warm by putting a lot of hay over it. I can't wait to show him to everyone. They're gonna be so happy. We have to come up with a name.   At least we know why these two stayed. As for No. 288...  ...I don't know. I wanted to follow Kuja because I was so scared of dying. But I couldn't... I felt like I was leaving something important behind. ...... What is it? A-Am I gonna stop pretty soon, too? I don't know... Kuja said the prototype built before us would last longer. ...... ...I was really confused when my grandpa died. He told me, 'Vivi, no need be sad.' So I told myself, I can't be sad. That's why I felt confused again when I heard that everyone was stopping around here. I didn't know what to do or what to feel... But when I saw Dagger crying when her mom died, I wasn't confused anymore. I was sad... Mr. 288... we aren't puppets. I know we aren't. I hate Kuja!!! He's turning everyone into puppets just to kill people!!! If it weren't for him, I know everyone would understand someday.  Vivi has grown well beyond his years in his short journey. Remember the unsure kid who was kinda along for the ride because he had no choice? Now he's taking initiative, trying to stand up for his people, ending up a person of inspiration, possibly even a leader. He's accepted who he is and what his fate will be, but has also realized he's just as human as anyone else, even if his brothers haven't learned that quite yet. They're still grappling with basic emotions like love and fear, but eventually they'll learn to understand their emotions much like Vivi, as long as they have the right guidance. And it's pretty drat clear such guidance won't be coming from Kuja.  ! It's buried under quicksand. You'll need a ship to get there. Thanks... ----- SILENCE   (Unlike me, he's fighting so hard...) (...Once I acceded to the throne, I knew I had to change.)   Dagger, were you listening, too? That crybaby sure has come a long way, don't you think? ...... Dagger? Are you alright?  Come on, cheer up! We'll beat up Kuja, and you'll get your voice back in no time. ...... Is something wrong? Eiko's the only person Dagger can really be honest with right now. Ever since Dagger uncovered her past, they've been very close and fast friends. They're the last two of their people, how can you have a closer bond than that? Dagger can't even be honest about her feelings with her husband.  Mr. 288 said Kuja's palace is buried under quicksand, right? Yeah. We're taking the ship to the eastern side of the continent to get there. Our next destination is here. It's on the east side of the Outer Continent, inaccessible without the Blue Narciss or a mountain chocobo.  There are four quicksand pits. One is our destination, three are antlion traps much like the one we fought in Cleyra. The trick is to watch which ones have sand erupting. The one that doesn't is our destination.  And here we are!  -----   U-Ungh...  Good question <ribbit>! I wish I knew! After I fell into the quicksand, everything went dark... That's all I can remember. Me, too <ribbit>! When I woke up, <ribbit> I was in this room. Oh yeah! Where is everyone! I don' know <ribbit>. I hope they're alright. That voice... it's Kuja! You rat bastard! Where're my friends?  No need to worry about them. They're in rooms not unlike yours.   Ahahahahahahaha! Oh, dear. Was it something I said? I'll let your friends live if you say yes. Zidane may despise Kuja, but we know he'd never put his friends in danger. ......    There are eight such rooms here. As you may have guessed, one for each person.  Fine <ribbit>! I won't let you down! And you <ribbit>! You come back safe! Yeah, I will. See ya.Cid's staying behind to protect the others with his mighty frog physique.  ......      My, we're upset, aren't we? Well, this is your errand... So, tell me what it is already, you demon! Surely, you haven't forgotten that I hold your friends' lives in my hands. Grr! Where's that? Oeilvert is south of the Seaways Canyon on the Forgotten Continent. It really isn't my kind of place. What do you mean by that? You see, there's an anti-magic barrier around the place. Once there, I want you to retrieve the Gulug Stone for me. I'll even send you on my luxury cruise ship, so you won't have to worry about transportation. Besides, nobody likes to fight against himself. ??? Heheh, nevermind. Speak their names when you've chosen your partners. OK, this part is important. We have to choose our team for Oeilvert. A few things. * As you may expect, the four we don't choose stay here. This means we cannot change our party once we pick it. * Kuja said there's an anti-magic barrier at Oeilvert. He's not kidding, magic flat-out won't work there. Bringing mages is dumb, though you'll still likely want to bring at least one because... * ...there's actually a second dungeon that the four left-over characters will tackle. The party leader for that one depends on who's in it, with priority being Eiko, then Vivi, and then Steiner and Freya in some order I forgot. At any rate, it's not a bad idea to have one physical character there with you. * As for who in particular to take, the key is actually Quina. You see, in the latter dungeon every single enemy encounter has a level that's a multiple of 5. This means you can completely cheese that dungeon with L5 Death. The boss also isn't a big deal if you handle the dungeon well, though more on that later. As for everyone else, Steiner benefits from being with Vivi due to Sword Magic. Dagger's kinda useless no matter which party she's in, but for the Oeilvert party she'll have other hardy characters to take the heat off healing. Amarant's helpful in the healing department also with Chakra, same with Freya and Reis' Wind. Leave Eiko with the second party for reliable healing, and we've got our teams made up. Neither dungeon is really hard, though, so just as long as you don't bring Vivi, Eiko, and Dagger with Zidane you should be fine.  Fine. I shall summon them.   Step through the door.   Now, go stand with your friends. Of course. You needn't worry one bit.  Guys, I'm starting to think we probably shouldn't trust Kuja here.   All we have to do now is make our way west.  Of course, there's enemies on the way. These are Ogres, only really notable for their Flame (fire damage for 1/4 of max HP) and Trouble Knife (inflicts Trouble) attacks.   That must be the Hilda Garde 1!Somehow Kuja obtained this ship from Cid's wife. Hey, who's ready for a summon? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlPjgbD4phE   I've already covered Leviathan's little bio when we got him, so let's see his signature move, Tidal Wave.    It's alright.   We back-attack these guys. They're Grimlocks.  They have two forms, physical and magical. Each form is weak against damage of the opposite, with the magical form casting annoying status magic. Also, what the hell, let's throw in Atomos while we're at it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG69bck-P2s   Atomos has its own little pocket dimension hangout.   It vomits out a gravity ball which it then sends to where we're at...  ...which then absorbs the enemies and crushes them with gravity damage.  This was around 20% of their max HP. Atomos's formula is different since it does gravity damage. It's 3/10 Max HP + (1/100 Max HP * # of Amethysts). Not sure why Atomos dealt less than the formula suggests, but I don't really care because I'll probably never use Atomos anyway since gravity attacks almost always suck in these games (pun partially intended).  Anyway, we're done with those encounters. Time to head for our destination!   We get another one of those sweet automatic airship rides like we had after Captain Dagger's reckless driving ended up destroying one of the major gates. Unfortunately she's not driving this one.  ...... ...... Hey! Say something! ......  Why, y-you backstabbing bozos! Those are slanderous words! Worse lies, I have never heard. You needn't concern yourself with such things. Or an end to your friends' lives, we shall bring.  The black mages were originally designed just to oppress. But a strong sense of self, the Black Waltzes came to possess. These mass-produced ones are to break once we're through with their lot. Other purpose than war they have not! They have grown attached to life, yet they'll soon disappear! Hilarious! Nothing but toys are they here!Games are art.  What!? Rubbish! You say that the black mages have no souls, but you guys are pawns, just like them! You won't be talking so big once we're done with you! Regret those words, you will!   Anyway, we've finally arrived at the Forgotten Continent. This is the first time we can actually access the place.  And next time, we'll explore what it has to offer as well as enter Oeilvert, where we'll get quite an interesting chunk of backstory.
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Sep 29, 2016 00:52
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I hate Oelivert. It's not exactly difficult, it's just boring since you're fairly limited on what you can do. Honestly, as fantastic as this game is, the battles are a big glaring flaw.
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Sep 29, 2016 01:36
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Vivi's debates with mortality are some of the most powerful pieces in this game. 
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Sep 29, 2016 01:45
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 : Guys let's jump into the bad guy's secret base that is on the bottom end of a quicksand pit! Surely nothing could go wrong with that idea!Made so much worse by the fact that Kuja quite obviously has another exit/entrance by way of the airship dock.
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Sep 29, 2016 01:47
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I hate Oelivert. It's not exactly difficult, it's just boring since you're fairly limited on what you can do. It's not even the most annoying gimmick dungeon in the game ;_; (well, that's not entirely true. The OTHER gimmick dungeon is annoying the first time if you are the usual FF player and sell things, even beyond what the synth shops trains you)
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Sep 29, 2016 01:58
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Tashilicious posted:It's not even the most annoying gimmick dungeon in the game ;_; I did this on my first playthrough, but don't forget that you can find what you need in the dungeon itself.
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Sep 29, 2016 02:32
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Your DIGLETT evolved into WHAT THE gently caress
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Sep 29, 2016 02:33
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hexedangel posted:I did this on my first playthrough, but don't forget that you can find what you need in the dungeon itself. You can, which helps, but it is still a PITA.
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Sep 29, 2016 02:43
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