Nyarlathotep's Dungeon: Week 31

[Nephrite]

Too bad... You did so well. I will have to prepare to see you again next time.


Team Unoriginal versus Floor 9, 1 to 7
Team Shale versus Floor 2, 8 to 0
Team Ultradude, 9 to 0

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Team Shale's Matches

Floor 3b: Multiples (Before Midgame)

So you want to try multiple foes? Let's see how you like this, then!

*All ST is MT for this floor. ALL of it.

Battle #11: Eirika

Eirika: I will not give up... not for any reason!

Battle #12: FFT Time Mage, FFT Wizard and FFT Priest

FFT Priest: Regenerator!
FFT Wizard: Counter Spell!
FFT Time Mage: ...Quick!!

Battle #13: Hellion and Luc

Hellion: We must not allow you to pass.
Luc: Hmph, this isn't even worth my time.

Battle #14: Augst and Bernadette

Augst: This will truly be a joke. Get it?!

Boss Battle #3: Alma and Ramza

Alma: Brother... Let us fight.
Ramza: Of course, Alma!!



Team Ultradude's Matches

Floor 2b: New Age (Earlygame)

So, you want to try something new? Fine then. Let's see how you like it... I have a surprise for you at the end!

Battle #6: Justin and Ryudo

Justin: Heh! This is a real adventure!
Ryudo: Skye, take flight! Let's beat these guys into the ground!

Battle #7: Cloud, Zidane and Tidus

Cloud: Hmph. You're not Sephiroth, but you'll do.
Zidane: Heh heh, if I take you guys out, I'll get a nice bonus.
Tidus: THIS IS MY STORY! ...What?!

Battle #8: Stahn, Reid and Luke

Stahn: FIREBALL! FIRE WALL! FLARE TORANDO!
Reid: Err... Let's go!
Luke: Uh... okay!

Battle #9: Ashley, Virginia and Jude

Ashley: Well, if we have to fight... we have to fight.
Virgina: I won't give up! Let's go!
Jude: I bet you guys are friends with adults. Blech!

Boss #2: Malice Edna and Ricardo

Edna: Ricardo... I am... sorry...
Ricardo: It is okay, my love... we shall defeat them together!


Team Ephraim's Matches

Floor 1: An Introduction (The Beginning)

Ah, a new challenger... Well, I've decided to change things a bit since the last time you were here. Let's see what you can accomplish this time.

Battle #1: Rufus and Reno

Rufus: Reno, dispose of them.
Reno: Uh... sure, I guess.

Battle #2: Shuckle, Fred and Cecil

Cecil: Let us have an honorable battle.
Fred: For the Maximillian Knights!!

Battle #3: Alice and FFT Priest

Alice: Ah, Yuri... where are you?
Priest: Cure... power!

Battle #4: Solt, Peppor, Alenia, Zahhak and Miluda

Solt: Let's shake things up!
Peppor: I'll grind you to dust!
Alenia: Wh... why are we here with them...?
Zahhak: ...
Miluda: ...BROTHER?!?

Boss Battle #1: Lundgren, Zalmo and Graham Clay

Lundgren: Hah hah hah! You will never stop me!
Zalmo: HERESY!!!
Graham: We'll get you!

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Team Shale | Shale: Rikku, Tidus, Millenia, Rand, Mint
[Floor 3b]
Rikku's Item List
*All ST is MT
Team Shale vs. Eirika
Team Shale vs. FFT Time Mage, FFT Wizard and FFT Priest
Team Shale vs. Hellion and Luc
Team Shale vs. Augst and Bernadette
Team Shale vs. Alma and Ramza

Team Ultradude | Emily, Alex, Garnet, Crowley, Nei
[Floor 2b]
Team Ultradude vs. Justin and Ryudo
Team Ultradude vs. Cloud, Zidane and Tidus (No Sonic Steel / Caladbolg)
Team Ultradude vs. Stahn, Reid and Luke
Team Ultradude vs. Ashley, Virginia and Jude
Team Ultradude vs. Malice Edna and Ricardo

Team Ephraim | Athos, Ryu4, Hawkeye, Time Mage, Mint
[Floor 1]
[Athos: Eclipse, Heal Staff]
*As a reminder, scale Athos as if he were his DL-ranked self.
Team Ephraim vs. Rufus and Reno
Team Ephraim vs. Shuckle, Fred (S3) and Cecil
Team Ephraim vs. Alice and FFT Priest
Team Ephraim vs. Solt, Peppor, Alenia, Zahhak and Miluda
Team Ephraim vs. Lundgren, Zalmo1 and Graham Clay


As another note, if you do not tell me what floor you're going to, I will decide for you.

[Mad Fnorder]

Shale passes pretty much entirely on Petrify grenades. The boss fight is pretty pathetic, even though Ramza can block stone.  OMG MT WISH FOR INFINITE HEALING.

Abstain on Ultradude, I actually need to think about some of these fights. Some of them might lead to Garnet getting picked off and losing to attrition. I'm not sure if Song of Madness is online, nor am I sure of Emily being her full kickass self yet.

Eph passes, Lol Athos in floor1. Don't see anyone I respect even breaking his defense. Even only having Eclipse for offense means the rest of his team can limp across the line.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Team Shale | Shale: Rikku, Tidus, Millenia, Rand, Mint
[Floor 3b]
*All ST is MT
Team Shale vs. Eirika - Hi, I'm Rikku and I get I win status that's MT! That's going to be about as pretty as Geno vs. Floor 3 was. ALTERNATIVELY: hi, I'm Tidus, I have Haste and I get Sonic Steel on this floor. Oh god.
Team Shale vs. FFT Time Mage, FFT Wizard and FFT Priest - MT Spellbinding Eye that goes first due to Sonic Steel! Goddamn. The team doesn't even -need- it, but it's horrifying to think of.
Team Shale vs. Hellion and Luc - Petrify Grenade spam.
Team Shale vs. Augst and Bernadette - Petrify Grenade+Augst. This floor... honestly isn't too threatening compared to the other one.
Team Shale vs. Alma and Ramza - Um yeah. Initiative Haste! Then, Spellbinding Eye. The end.

Team Ultradude | Emily, Alex, Garnet, Crowley, Nei
[Floor 2b]
Team Ultradude vs. Justin and Ryudo
Team Ultradude vs. Cloud, Zidane and Tidus (No Sonic Steel / Caladbolg)
Team Ultradude vs. Stahn, Reid and Luke
Team Ultradude vs. Ashley, Virginia and Jude
Team Ultradude vs. Malice Edna and Ricardo - Emily goes first and makes things die, mostly. The rest of the team patches up. Emily starts up with a fairly well-buit set, and picking it up to awesome offense is easy and fast.

Team Ephraim | Athos, Ryu4, Hawkeye, Time Mage, Mint
[Floor 1]
[Athos: Eclipse, Heal Staff]
*As a reminder, scale Athos as if he were his DL-ranked self.
Team Ephraim vs. Rufus and Reno
Team Ephraim vs. Shuckle, Fred (S3) and Cecil
Team Ephraim vs. Alice and FFT Priest
Team Ephraim vs. Solt, Peppor, Alenia, Zahhak and Miluda
Team Ephraim vs. Lundgren, Zalmo1 and Graham Clay - I... guess.

[Shale]

Me vs. Floor 3
Oh, God, the horror. You know, Rikku could self-inflict Silence to get fast Overdrives, mix Elixir (which is effectively Megalixir here) every time she gets a full bar, and and just loop endlessly until Millennia kills everything with Spellbinding Eye damage. Or she could use MT Vitality to double the entire party's max HP and let Mint slugfest things to death. I like this floor.

No vote on Team Dude due to Emily and Crowley.

Eph passes. It's freaking unscaled Athos on Floor 1, with support that isn't Jogurt and/or actively trying to kill him.

[Nephrite]

Me vs. Floor 3
Oh, God, the horror. You know, Rikku could self-inflict Silence to get fast Overdrives, mix Elixir (which is effectively Megalixir here) every time she gets a full bar, and and just loop endlessly until Millennia kills everything with Spellbinding Eye damage. Or she could use MT Vitality to double the entire party's max HP and let Mint slugfest things to death. I like this floor.

No vote on Team Dude due to Emily and Crowley.

Eph passes. It's freaking unscaled Athos on Floor 1, with support that isn't Jogurt and/or actively trying to kill him.

There is no way Rikku has the status Overdrive right now. It does not matter, of course, but I'll just throw that one out there.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Shale destroys worlds, though as a note MT Eirika could be scary for non-Shale teams.

Ultradude's team seems solid enough for Floor 2... Crowley had some healing on one of his runes, right? EDIT: Might not matter anyway. No pass.

Eph nukes floor 1 with Athos.


-Djinn

[Clear Tranquil]

Awww party pooper Neph

Team Shale passes-

Team Eph passes- Floor One.

[dude789]

Edit: I was already initially suspicious about Ultradude passing and I think Djinn broke down what happened on that floor well. I'm changing my vote to fail for Ultradude. The other two still pass.

[Random Consonant]

I think everybody makes it.

[Bardiche]

Was going to give the fail to Shale, until I realized floor 3 Eirika isn't that impressive yet, and I am going to buy Rikku's status hype.

Any team with Garnet and Alex wins. So pass to Ultradude.

Ephraim fails, being Athos is just lame. :'D (pass, though)

[superaielman]

Everyone passes.

Edit: Abstain on Ultradude till I feel like taking a second, longer look at that fight.

[DjinnAndTonic]

More thoughts on Ultradude. Note: Turn order is roughly Emily>Nei>Crowley>>Garnet>>Alex to me. Tidus and Ashley probably go before Nei. Average speed is probably right around Crowley's turn. Jude/Virginia are probably faster than Emily.
Team Ultradude | Emily, Alex, Garnet, Crowley, Nei
[Floor 2b]
Team Ultradude vs. Justin and Ryudo - Justin and Ryudo gang up on Garnet but aren't quite enough to out-race her and Crowley's healing. Emily, Alex, and Nei (yes, using her physical because no Song of Madness yet) gang up on one of them. Garnet heals up, the team fries the other one.
Team Ultradude vs. Cloud, Zidane and Tidus (No Sonic Steel / Caladbolg) - All of them use Limits... could be a scary fight in my views. If they go for the team's only reviver Garnet, they might be able to take her out in the first turn. Depends on turn order really. Emily and Nei go first and puts some hurt on Tidus, who then has enough for an Overdrive on Garnet? Even a low-level Overdrive might OHKO her, but I'll say she survives it. Now it's either Zidane or Crowley next. If Zidane goes next, Garnet dies. If Crowley goes next, Garnet is fullhealed. If Garnet dies here, the team can still finish this match with Crowley's lv.4 Wind spell + Alex/Emily damage. Cloud and Zidane can choose to put some hurt on Emily/Crowley or kill Nei. They probably go for Crowley, who will have to heal himself in the next battle. If Garnet survives, she keeps the team healed up as Emily/Alex/Nei mop up Tidus and Cloud and finally Zidane. Don't think Zidane has Mini at this point? If he does, the team is screwed if Garnet dies. Unless Healing Wind cures status?
Team Ultradude vs. Stahn, Reid and Luke - These guys are either all fast or all average. I personally see them as kind of fast, so Ultra hopes that Garnet survived the last battle. If she didn't, they take out Crowley before he can heal himself and put some hurt on Emily (not too much as she's decently evasive). Emily can probably one-round any of them at this point. Alex and Nei might be able to take out another. By the end of the second round only one of them is standing and they've all but killed Emily. Emily finishes the last one off. If Garnet survived, then all three of them go for her (well, two since Emily's one-rounding one of them). Again, they have a chance of taking out Garnet depending on turn order. If both of them go before Garnet or Crowley can heal her, then she's dead. If she dies here, Crowley/Alex/Nei can kill one and almost kill the other. Emily starts next turn by finishing them off. If Garnet survives, then the team can go into the next match fully healed.
Team Ultradude vs. Ashley, Virginia and Jude - Completely dependant upon whether or not Garnet and Crowley survived. If both died, then Emily enters this match almost dead, Jude takes her out while Ashley/Virginia mop up Alex/Nei. If only Garnet died in the last match, then Crowley enters this fight somewhat damaged and Jude takes him out first-turn. Emily proceeds to destroy Virginia (who at this point in the game doesn't have enough FP to even Mystic, so she just shoots Emily for some trifling damage), Virginia might have an argument to survive on evade here, but I'll say she bites it. Ashley puts some significant hurt on Emily while Alex/Nei do the same to him. Jude might be able to kill Emily at this point. If he does, the team loses here. If he doesn't, then Emily destroys Ashley while Alex (and Nei) mop up Jude. Jude might have an argument to survive on evade. If he does, he kills off Emily before Alex/Nei finally take him out. If Garnet survived, then the team comes into this battle at full health. Again, all three try to destroy Garnet (and are fast enough that they should have no trouble doing so before any healers can move). Emily destroys Virginia and Crowley puts some hurt on them with his MT wind spell (Jude doesn't have wind resistance yet and this will probably kill him. If Ginny survived Emily, then Crowley's spell finishes her off). Alex mops up Jude if he survived, or Ashley if he didn't. If anyone's still alive by the next round, Emily finishes them off before they can do anything else. Ultradude's overall chances for victory here look to be only a little more than 50%, but let's say he makes it.
Team Ultradude vs. Malice Edna and Ricardo - He goes into this fight at the very best with only Garnet dead and Crowley out of MT spell charges. At worst, only Alex and Nei are here. They gang up on Alex in this case and Nei can't outslug them. Game over. If Emily survived to this point, she's almost dead, but she gets to put the hurt on Malice Edna before Ricardo takes her out. At this point, depending on how much respect Nei's damage or if you scale SH3 bosses to a low HP total, Nei and Alex might be able to take Edna out before she destroys this team. If they can't kill her, then she uses her stock gauge to weaken Alex immensely. Nei goes for Edna again, Ricardo takes out Alex. Nei probably gets another turn before Edna due to the lag from the stock gauge and just might take her out. If Edna dies here, then it becomes a slapfight between Ricardo and Nei and I have no idea who would come out on top there. Ricardo's damage is pretty awful, but Nei's not exactly a tank... plus he gets to attack her first. I would say Ultradude loses in that case. If Alex/Nei -do- manage to kill Edna before Alex dies, then Ultradude wins. If he goes into this fight with Crowley still alive, then Emily/Nei put the hurt on Malice Edna, Ricardo uses Spring Breeze on Edna for the amazing regen, Crowley uses his ST wind spell on Edna and Alex tries to out-damage the regen. Edna uses her stock gauge to take out Crowley and put some hurt on Emily, but it's too late. Emily/Nei/Alex take out Edna and Ricardo can't do anything against that kind of offense by himself. However, the overall odds of success have dwilded to under 50% by this point, so I'm going to have to go with Ultradude losing here.

If you really respect Garnet's durability, this could go for Ultradude. If you see Song of Madness as Floor 2, this could go to Ultradude. If you see Crowley as particularly speedy, this could also go to Ultradude. Overall, though, I thought I was being pretty generous....

[Dhyerwolf]

Ultradude loses. Well, Djinn pointed out that they have a losing battle, and...I don't think Garnet even has Life yet. After all, if floor 7 is endgame, wouldn't that make floor 2 the second half of disk 1 in FF 9? I suppose you could say since Garnet is out of part of disk 1...but that doesn't really feel too right to me, since the final shop on disk 1 only really has a weapon for Quina anyways. Without needing to focus on Garnet, that frees up all the enemies can do. Also...this team lacks status healing for several spells. So...Zidane can play some nasty tricks if he then gets a turn. Mini Emily? Silenced Crowley? Really does seem like they'd need so much to go their way.

[Yakumo]

Ultradude fails.  Not sure about the Life issue Dhyer brought up, but Emily isn't godly when you first get her(good, yes, but her skills need some boosting to become the killing machine we all know and love, and I don't allow her to boost the skills in the dungeon before she becomes available in-game.).  Even if they have revival on Garnet, she's not very durable and will die first, and the team gets whittled down as the floor goes on.  Crowley can't heal the whole team through the whole floor himself, and with Garnet gone he'll probably drop fast too anyway.

Shale laughs at this floor.

Eph has endgame stats Athos on floor one.  Point and laugh at poor floor one.

[Taishyr]

All three pass.

I pretty much disagree with all the judgment calls Djinn makes (not that they're bad or anything, just not how I view things) so Cloud/Zidane/Tidus is a cinch thanks to scaled limits but no initial (kick Zidane with Alex Sword Dance/Emily/Crowley, then Tidus, then Cloud), the Tales mains are average speed so they get swarmglomped before they do much (arguably they get kicked even harder by Nei using her SPD/SKL debuff), and I'm not feeling the Ashley speed hype so Crowley manages a heal before Ashley goes is my instinct, thus negating the damage on Garnet. Emily and Alex gang up and Alex expends a use of Sword Dance to take Ashley (or maybe Jude, since he does have speed and damage) down, and from there the battle's simple. There -is- the chance that Ashley/Jude survives those two... and then Garnet has Protect by now, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, after that there's no chance.

Malice Edna/Ricardo.... Edna kills Garnet. Ricardo buffs Edna. Emily pummels Edna, Crowley whacks with Wind, Alex Sword Dances Ricardo, this should kill Ricardo. Nei sings SoM. Edna whacks Nei since that's a really bad thing for her, but I don't think it kills, Edna needs to expend her stock to kill Garnet (She starts with stock, right? Else this is not going to go well for her.) so Nei survives and Emily/Alex get their turn with a physical boost. Game.

If you see Garnet dead, Edna kills Nei, ignore the Nei part. Second round, Edna... whacks Crowley, should manage a kill. Alex and Emily both gang up on Edna. Next is Alex I want to say, Emily pounds some more... and I'm not sure who wins from here, but I think it's pretty close. Emily and Alex are both pretty above-average all the way through on the damage front, so this does take a toll on Edna.

[Mad Fnorder]

Just off the top of my head- isn't Sword Dance really pricey MP wise? Does Alex have enough shots at this point?

[Bardiche]

Alex can Sword-dance twice near the start of the game, if memory serves. (correct me if wrong, but I think it was two at level 2 already?)

By the time you reach the first forest, or if you still make that floor 1 you can even put it as far as the first boss, Alex can Sworddance about three, four times. He can definitely Sword Dance plenty enough at this point in the game.

I'm just guesstimating off my latest play of Lunar, though, and I think I Vigor'd, then Sword Dance'd thrice in the fight against that boss... So definitely three, four Sword Dances, which is plenty enough, to me, to bust through this floor sufficiently. I also definitely didn't use Starlights, just before anyone accuses me of those shenanigans.

If you take floor 2 as being even farther than just the first boss, then hell mates, Alex has plenty enough to bring home. In the Vane Magic Trial, the boy has enough juice to bust five or six Sword Dances.

[Taishyr]

He has limited resources, yes, but part of the issue is that long Lunar dungeons are long. In the dungeon, he can put his resources to far more definite use. At least, for Sword Dance.

First floor, he can probably use it twice, maybe once more near the end, since yes, he should have two by about L4 at the latest. After that he gets some limited MP growth for a bit, so he gets ~30 MP without hassle.

The other half of his resource woes is that, beside Vigor/Sword Dance, everything he gets is either unimpressive or has WHOAMG MP costs (~40-50) and his max MP is about.... 150? So while he gets a -lot- of Sword Dances (6 MP), he doesn't get much else unless he wants to blow a ton of MP on it.

Sword Dance is pretty cheap. It's his dragon spells that cost a ton.

[Mad Fnorder]

Objection cheerfully withdrawn. I was curious as much as anything. ^^

[Taishyr]

Nah, it's definitely a fair question, believe me. >_> But yeah, Sword Dance is pretty cheap and pretty strong. Just anything else is expensive, and earlygame Sword Dance -is- limited.

[Nephrite]

Updating this Thursday!

[VySaika]

Shale and Eph both Pass

UD unfortunately Fails.

[Magic Fanatic]

Shale and Eph both Pass

UD unfortunately Fails.