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General Chat / Re: Beyond Chaos powertrip mode
« Last post by DragonKnight Zero on October 11, 2024, 04:11:10 AM » Airship launched. Character in airship is Gio so I still have no access to the Magic command. Stop by Maranda since it's right there and send off Lola's Letter so I don't forget to do it later. There's some gear in the armor shop I will find useful in outfitting my characters as they rejoin. Also have Guardians and Thornlets for sale, which are garbage. Stop by Cid's beach to pick up Palidor. Pearl and Berserk are now available to learn, sort of neat. Do a grind fight to get some people to tick over to the next level then off to Mobliz, swapping out Jade for Gio before entering.
Do some setup before challenging Phunbaba. Baal is the main source of recovery with Pearl Wind so gets the Muscle Belt. Ryu gets my sole Green Beret which is enough to get him to 4 digit HP. Umaro is already at Lv 25 so doesn't need HP boosting. Auto-reflect or Rage Ring on most of the team. Didn't really need healing in the first fight. With Ryu and Gio pounding away with desperation attacks, didn't take long and I claim Fenrir. Nothing new in spells and +2 Speed, first Esper with that bonus, minor as it is.
Second round I stick to the same party setup. BabaBreath blows out Ryu and Baal. There went the healer but Krissy is back and has a Magic command to take over support functions. Have her cast Regen on Umaro first free turn she gets and otherwise focus on support, only attacking when healthy. Not that she can contribute much offense with 600 damage Dispatch and about 900 for Quadra Slam. Gio and Umaro both have Rage Rings so Phunbaba Bolt 2/3 isn't accomplishing much and the one person vulnerable doesn't have much business attacking. Blow Fish would be the scariest thing to see since 2/3 of the battling party has below 1000 max HP and if Gio goes down, neither other character can revive him. I got lucky and never saw Blow Fish before firing enough W-Limits to win but it could have really cost me momentum if not the whole fight.
Moogle cave is my next stop. Form ranks with a Ryu, Baal, Gio, and Jade group as it's a short trip so the absence of Magic isn't as crippling. Battles are handled with brute force. The most danger I was in is when something got off a LifeShaver on Jade but it didn't kill and a Pearl Wind the next free turn Baal gets patches it up. Treasure is very so-so though and extra Safety Bit and Charm Bangle are convenient and the Tiger Fangs are a better stat stick for Baal when I don't want to risk ?-Chaos and don't want to spare the MP for Lore. Mog rejoins here. Warp Stone out when done,
With Mog back in the ranks, pick now to pay a visit to Umaro's cave. First, party reforming time. I roll the group of Krissy, Mog, Gio, and Baal and make sure their gear is up to date. First time the Mog character has seen action all game. Introduction time. Command list is LifeShaver, Magic, Item.
Lifeshaver: Very strong draining attack at my disposal is convenient. One of the few earth element options that can hit flying enemies. Convenient parasitic healing but lacking in offense due to damage being capped by missing HP. Also dangerous if the target has earth absorb or is undead and earth resist tends to be more common in randomizer. Both is safe though since the skill will invert twice in that case.
Also comes with natural magic, the most significant bit trivia being starting with Haste. As Haste is taught by a single Esper at a x1 learn rate, Mog is likely to be the only caster with access to that spell, middling as it is. I had renamed Mog, Loki way back in the WoB and will be referred to as such in these writeups.
A quick stop to Figaro castle to pick up some more Warp Stones and it's off to the Narshe snowfield. Gio is oneshotting two monsters a turn on the climb up to the frozen Esper and is pretty much carrying the team with Baal being unreliable or MP hungry and Krissy and Loki not really contributing much offense except on fodder. The most threatening enemy to watch out for comes in packs of 6 (or 3 with other monsters) and can throw out Aero. Two Aeros will send most of the team into the dirt or on the brink of it. Hadn't learned the Lore yet so wasn't too upset that the opposition sneaked one Aero through. Lots of floating continent foes lurking around the climb too.
For Tritoch, I set up Baal with Gold Hairpin and Coin Toss. Krissy and Loki get Wall Rings. Only reason Gio isn't getting auto-reflect is that I don't have enough sources of it. So I rely on his 185 Magic defense and support for Krissy and Loki to keep him upright. Seeing that he is the team's main source of offense. Baal is using Mimic to double up on the W-Limits. Regen on Gio and Cure/Reflect to keep him healthy. Krissy can chip in with Dice/Dispatch if no support is needed but Loki can do zip on offense. Whatever. W-Limit spam wears down Tritoch and I have new Magicite. Tritoch adds Poison, Drain, and Quake to my available spell options. Hike back to the save point.
There's a dragon running around so I run into it to determine which one it is. It's a Red Dragon. Reset and prepare for real. Everyone has Red Jackets besides Gio so I give him the extra Rage Ring for full fire coverage. Flare and physicals can still get through though. Baal goes with Gold Hairpin and Coin Toss again. I end up with mostly the same loadout as Tritoch other than ditching the Wall Rings. Because of auto-reflect on Gold Hiarpin, Red Dragon opens up with its Special dealing 250 to a back row Baal. And attempting to dispel reflect. Use Sour Mouth as soon as I'm able with the plan being to keep the dragon locked down with confuse. Krissy adds Slow when she gets a free turn and attempts to Steal when not needed for support or reapplying confusion. Loki is solely on a supportive role as his limited spell list all runs into the dragon's elemental resistance. Gio pounds away with W-Limit. Baal is miming whatever. Dragon doesn't land another blow on my party before going down. Drops a Wing Edge which I go ahead and toss on Loki for the stat boosts.
Umaro's caves has various annoyances popping up in randoms. Imp Specials, confuse specials, two different mosnters capable of Lifeshaver, and some of the nonsense from the floating continent make their appearances. Racked up a number of resets due to confused allies massacring the party as well as a few more because ?-Chaos decided to roll Crusader which oneshots everyone but Gio and even he takes around 900. I consider that unacceptable even if I win the random in which it happens. The Tonberries in a box are in their vanilla location too. Get out Phantom as soon as i can, and peck away with any form of offense that isn't the Magic command. SwdTech or dice from Krissy, Sniper Sight physicals from Loki, W-Limit from Gio. Baal has the Coin Toss again and mimes Limit (preferable) or SwdTech. Easy kill when invisible. No cool drops though and I'm not high enough level to have any hope of stealing anything. Other treasures are an Oath Veil (money saved0 and a Gauntlet. (only useful for the Ice 3 break) Use the same general strategy on the yeti as I did on the Red Dragon. Sour Mouth as soon as possible and on hey, sleep works. Pile on Slow for added insult and toss W-Limit and magic at it. Baal is using the Coin Toss once again though also has the option of Aqua Rake due to the boss randomizing a water weakness. Boss fight is over before it has a chance to wake up.
And wow, I'm really getting mileage out of that Item>Mimic Coin Toss, having used it at every major fight this segment. Terrato teaches spells already found on other Espers and only an MP+30 level up bones, yawn. Loki orders Hope to rejoin. Warp Stone out when done.
Do some setup before challenging Phunbaba. Baal is the main source of recovery with Pearl Wind so gets the Muscle Belt. Ryu gets my sole Green Beret which is enough to get him to 4 digit HP. Umaro is already at Lv 25 so doesn't need HP boosting. Auto-reflect or Rage Ring on most of the team. Didn't really need healing in the first fight. With Ryu and Gio pounding away with desperation attacks, didn't take long and I claim Fenrir. Nothing new in spells and +2 Speed, first Esper with that bonus, minor as it is.
Second round I stick to the same party setup. BabaBreath blows out Ryu and Baal. There went the healer but Krissy is back and has a Magic command to take over support functions. Have her cast Regen on Umaro first free turn she gets and otherwise focus on support, only attacking when healthy. Not that she can contribute much offense with 600 damage Dispatch and about 900 for Quadra Slam. Gio and Umaro both have Rage Rings so Phunbaba Bolt 2/3 isn't accomplishing much and the one person vulnerable doesn't have much business attacking. Blow Fish would be the scariest thing to see since 2/3 of the battling party has below 1000 max HP and if Gio goes down, neither other character can revive him. I got lucky and never saw Blow Fish before firing enough W-Limits to win but it could have really cost me momentum if not the whole fight.
Moogle cave is my next stop. Form ranks with a Ryu, Baal, Gio, and Jade group as it's a short trip so the absence of Magic isn't as crippling. Battles are handled with brute force. The most danger I was in is when something got off a LifeShaver on Jade but it didn't kill and a Pearl Wind the next free turn Baal gets patches it up. Treasure is very so-so though and extra Safety Bit and Charm Bangle are convenient and the Tiger Fangs are a better stat stick for Baal when I don't want to risk ?-Chaos and don't want to spare the MP for Lore. Mog rejoins here. Warp Stone out when done,
With Mog back in the ranks, pick now to pay a visit to Umaro's cave. First, party reforming time. I roll the group of Krissy, Mog, Gio, and Baal and make sure their gear is up to date. First time the Mog character has seen action all game. Introduction time. Command list is LifeShaver, Magic, Item.
Lifeshaver: Very strong draining attack at my disposal is convenient. One of the few earth element options that can hit flying enemies. Convenient parasitic healing but lacking in offense due to damage being capped by missing HP. Also dangerous if the target has earth absorb or is undead and earth resist tends to be more common in randomizer. Both is safe though since the skill will invert twice in that case.
Also comes with natural magic, the most significant bit trivia being starting with Haste. As Haste is taught by a single Esper at a x1 learn rate, Mog is likely to be the only caster with access to that spell, middling as it is. I had renamed Mog, Loki way back in the WoB and will be referred to as such in these writeups.
A quick stop to Figaro castle to pick up some more Warp Stones and it's off to the Narshe snowfield. Gio is oneshotting two monsters a turn on the climb up to the frozen Esper and is pretty much carrying the team with Baal being unreliable or MP hungry and Krissy and Loki not really contributing much offense except on fodder. The most threatening enemy to watch out for comes in packs of 6 (or 3 with other monsters) and can throw out Aero. Two Aeros will send most of the team into the dirt or on the brink of it. Hadn't learned the Lore yet so wasn't too upset that the opposition sneaked one Aero through. Lots of floating continent foes lurking around the climb too.
For Tritoch, I set up Baal with Gold Hairpin and Coin Toss. Krissy and Loki get Wall Rings. Only reason Gio isn't getting auto-reflect is that I don't have enough sources of it. So I rely on his 185 Magic defense and support for Krissy and Loki to keep him upright. Seeing that he is the team's main source of offense. Baal is using Mimic to double up on the W-Limits. Regen on Gio and Cure/Reflect to keep him healthy. Krissy can chip in with Dice/Dispatch if no support is needed but Loki can do zip on offense. Whatever. W-Limit spam wears down Tritoch and I have new Magicite. Tritoch adds Poison, Drain, and Quake to my available spell options. Hike back to the save point.
There's a dragon running around so I run into it to determine which one it is. It's a Red Dragon. Reset and prepare for real. Everyone has Red Jackets besides Gio so I give him the extra Rage Ring for full fire coverage. Flare and physicals can still get through though. Baal goes with Gold Hairpin and Coin Toss again. I end up with mostly the same loadout as Tritoch other than ditching the Wall Rings. Because of auto-reflect on Gold Hiarpin, Red Dragon opens up with its Special dealing 250 to a back row Baal. And attempting to dispel reflect. Use Sour Mouth as soon as I'm able with the plan being to keep the dragon locked down with confuse. Krissy adds Slow when she gets a free turn and attempts to Steal when not needed for support or reapplying confusion. Loki is solely on a supportive role as his limited spell list all runs into the dragon's elemental resistance. Gio pounds away with W-Limit. Baal is miming whatever. Dragon doesn't land another blow on my party before going down. Drops a Wing Edge which I go ahead and toss on Loki for the stat boosts.
Umaro's caves has various annoyances popping up in randoms. Imp Specials, confuse specials, two different mosnters capable of Lifeshaver, and some of the nonsense from the floating continent make their appearances. Racked up a number of resets due to confused allies massacring the party as well as a few more because ?-Chaos decided to roll Crusader which oneshots everyone but Gio and even he takes around 900. I consider that unacceptable even if I win the random in which it happens. The Tonberries in a box are in their vanilla location too. Get out Phantom as soon as i can, and peck away with any form of offense that isn't the Magic command. SwdTech or dice from Krissy, Sniper Sight physicals from Loki, W-Limit from Gio. Baal has the Coin Toss again and mimes Limit (preferable) or SwdTech. Easy kill when invisible. No cool drops though and I'm not high enough level to have any hope of stealing anything. Other treasures are an Oath Veil (money saved0 and a Gauntlet. (only useful for the Ice 3 break) Use the same general strategy on the yeti as I did on the Red Dragon. Sour Mouth as soon as possible and on hey, sleep works. Pile on Slow for added insult and toss W-Limit and magic at it. Baal is using the Coin Toss once again though also has the option of Aqua Rake due to the boss randomizing a water weakness. Boss fight is over before it has a chance to wake up.
And wow, I'm really getting mileage out of that Item>Mimic Coin Toss, having used it at every major fight this segment. Terrato teaches spells already found on other Espers and only an MP+30 level up bones, yawn. Loki orders Hope to rejoin. Warp Stone out when done.
is countered by breaking a Buckler for Harvester to dispel slow on Baal. I have over 20 of those lying around so sparing a few is no big deal. They got randomly flagged as unbreakable so none were actually consumed. Actual attempt went favorably. Opening L? Holy misses everyone. My one use of ?-Chaos rolls Palidor which lets the team dodge an attack or two. Jade tosses a Magicite when everyone was healthy at one point just because but it summons Terrato, who whiffs. No unlucky deaths from a counter + focused Ice3. Drops yet another 51 Defense Genji armor, whee.