Nyarlathotep's Dungeon: Week 41

[Nephrite]

So you couldn't keep up, hm? Well, perhaps I made it too hard... Ah well, you are always welcome to challenge me again.

Team Taishyr vs. Floor 4
Team Piggyman and Commander vs. Floor 3





Team Piggyman's Matches

Floor 4b: Attrition (Midgame)

So, you think you have what it takes to make it through this unscathed...? Let's see!

*All healing and revival effects are reduced to 20% for this floor. Revival is not useable


Battle #16: Krin, Karn, Jane and Tia

Krin: Heh heh heh, you can't get past us.
Karn: I wish I could transform...
Jane: Jane Maxwell! Let's GO!
Tia: Tia, like Tear... because I cry a lot.

Battle #17: Lyn, Fiora and Florina

Lyn: You won't get past my Mani Katti!
Florina: Yes... that's right!
Fiora: Hmph, you won't beat us.


Battle #18: Arnaud, Raquel and Anastasia

Arnaud: Such a beautiful ladies... I can't believe my luck!
Raquel: Not now, you.
Anastasia: Did you hear that?! He called me beautiful!!!

Battle #19: Augustine, Hallec and Chris

Augustine: Ah, my friends... let us do battle.
Hallec: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!
Chris: I will not allow you passage, knave!

Boss Battle #4: Augst, Tony, Midboss and Gaffgarion

Augst: I'm afraid we can't let you all live. It's been determined you're too much of a threat.
Tony: I HATE KIDS!!!
Gaffgarion: ...Is this... really happening?



Team Commander's Matches


Floor 4c: Past and Future

"Let's see how you fare when you have to trample through the annals of time!"


Battle #16: Lufia, Child Rydia and FF1 Garland

Lufia: I will... fight!
Rydia: My.. mother...!
Garland: I, GARLAND, SHALL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN! FOR REAL!

Battle #17: Rikku, Aeonless Yuna and Suikoden 1 Luc

Rikku: Yeah! Let's go!
Yuna: I will fight if I must.
Luc: This is not worth my time...

Battle #18: Fort Zeakden Algus, Balk, Undead Dark Knight Argath and Undead Balk

Algus: Uh...
Argath: Don't mess up this time...
Balk: Heh! This is truly amazing.
Balk: I truly am above 'death'...


Battle #19: Gun Mage Yuna, Thief Rikku and S3 Luc

Rikku: Let's go, Yunie!
Yuna: All right, Rikku!
Luc: I am -not- dancing...

Boss Battle: Lufia 2 Erim, Rydia and Chaos

Erim: I... am sorry.
Rydia: Mother, give me strength...!
Chaos: I, CHAOS, WILL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN! THROUGH TIME!




Team Shale's Matches


"Well, let's see if you have the ability to survive all of this... Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Battle #31: Empyrea and Marcello

Empyrea: I will challenge you in this place.
Marcello: I don't take orders well...


Battle #32: Zio, Lashiec and Dark Force 2

Zio: My great god has returned me to life!
Lashiec: Yes... in order to defeat you!
Dark Force: ...!


Battle #33: Lavos and Lynx

Lynx: I will destroy you and time... with the help of this creature! Now die!


Battle #34: Garland, Kuja and Lani

Garland: I will kill you all here.
Kuja: Ha ha... yes, that's true.
Lani: I... uh... ...bandit?


Boss Battle #7: Zeromus and Exdeath

Zeromus: As long as hatred still exists in the hearts of humanity...
Exdeath: GIANT TREE!


---------------------------------------------

Team Piggyman | Benjamin, Magus, Tidus, Robo
[Floor 4b]
*All healing effects are reduced to 20% for this floor. Spells that revive do nothing.
Team Piggyman vs. Krin, Karn, Jane and Tia
Team Piggyman vs. Lyn, Fiora and Florina
Team Piggyman vs. Arnaud, Raquel and SH2 Anastasia
Team Piggyman vs. Augustine, Hallec and Chris
Team Piggyman vs. Augst, Tony, Midboss and Gaffgarion



Team Commander | Yuri2, Cloud, Juan, Bowser, Mime
[Floor 4c]
[Cloud: Restore (M), Transform (M), Revive (M), HP Plus (U)]
Team Commander vs. Lufia, Child Rydia and FF1 Garland
Team Commander vs. Rikku (DL Legal), Aeonless Yuna and S1 Luc
Team Commander vs. Fort Zeakden Algus, Balk, Undead Dark Knight Argath and Undead Balk
Team Commander vs. Gun Mage Yuna, Thief Rikku and S3 Luc
Team Commander vs. Lufia 2 Erim, Rydia and Chaos


Team Shale | Rikku, Tidus, Millenia, Rand, Mint
[Floor 7c]
Team Shale vs. Empyrea and Marcello
Team Shale vs. Zio, Lashiec and Dark Force 2
Team Shale vs. Lavos and Lynx
Team Shale vs. Garland, Kuja and Lani
Team Shale vs. Zeromus and Exdeath

[Taishyr]

...uh. No clue on all three teams, baseline; gut says Shale and CK fall, unsure on Piggyman.

[Bardiche]

Fail on Piggyman. Don't think he can pass through with everyone alive here.

Commander... Hm... Not sure yet.

Not sure on Shale either.

[Shale]

The key on my floor is going to be whorish Megalixir spam since Rikku now has God Hand (and, obviously, Megalixir ingredients), especially inasmmuch as it keeps Millennia slinging Spellbinding Eyes. Even then I'm not sure I make it, but it's a strategy.

[Taishyr]

...How fast does Rikku get Overdrive charges?

[Shale]

With initiative haste and triple overdrive? Pretty fast. Going by Ally, she's gaining 12% of a bar every action, so takes 9 actions to OD, and has 1.25X average speed, doubled by haste to 2.5X, soooo....every 3.6 average turns. Possibly sooner, actually - per the stat topic, Use has 1.5X recharge time, and although I'm not entirely clear on the terminology, I do know that Quick Hit has 3X recharge, so higher is better, so she should be able to get actions faster than her straight speed indicates.

Edit: Okay, that means her speed increases by 50% after a Use (and her only actions from now until the end of time should be Use and Mix). So after every Use, her effective base speed is 1.5 X 1.25 = 1.875 average, doubled for haste is 3.75X average...2.4 average turns. After which she has a .5X modifier from Use, meaning she's held to her base 1.25 speed (halved for recharge, doubled for haste) for her next turn.

[Dark Holy Elf]

1.5x recharge time means that she gets turns 1.5 times as fast. So yeah, she's 3.75 turns per round while spamming Use under Haste.

Biggest thing to remember is that Mix itself has 0.5x recharge time... i.e. perfectly cancels Haste, and means Rikku waits most of a round to get a turn after using it. At the fastest, Rikku can get (and use) an Overdrive just under once every three rounds. Which is scary enough, really.

EDIT: To elaborate on what it looks like: Rikku starts off by using Haste, and then proceeds to get just under four turns a round. After seven such turns of doing whatever (sometime in round 3) she gets an Overdrive. Uses it. Waits a bit under a turn. Gets eight actions in just under two rounds, then on the ninth, gets an Overdrive. Uses it. Repeat.

[SnowFire]

Team Shale tentatively sounds set- Millenia + Tidus is a fantastic combo, and Rikku keeps Millenia fueled up.  Pretty much perfectly cancels the lack of offense when the opposing team can do nothing.

Well, except for one fight.  The first one.  Millenia can't SBE both Empy and Marcello, and both pack Waves of Ice.  They're both tanky too, so no blitizing them out.  Tidus can force one of them to waste one of their "four" turns WoIing...  and Millenia can unload with Fallen Wings...  but Zap + Portal to the Heavens is going to put huge pressure on the team, Empyrea will physically attack Mint to keep Rand reviving her, and...  yeah.  Open for arguments here- especially if there's something dirty Rikku can pull - but with Tidus's Hastega constantly being blown away, she won't get to her Mix as fast as DHE's stats suggest.

Team Piggyman...  is it just me or does the team lack any disabling statuses?  Traditionally you status somebody out at the end of the fight and then have Ben heal, but if Piggyman doesn't have any, he'll just have to blitz everything.  And Magus + Tidus Hasted Benjamin are fast, yes, but so is the floor, and Magus's damage is somewhat less impressive by this floor.  And once somebody - probably Tidus - dies, the team's in major trouble.  Kneejerking no at the moment, but somebody will need to pull up all the speed scores to be sure.

Team Commander...  the last two fights look troublesome.  Thief apparently has 100% Stop, so Cloud gets stopped (I think Yuri can block it).  Can Yuri backed by Mime stop S3 Luc from resolving Eternal Wind?  Because that would suck a lot if that happens, and IIRC Mime doesn't copy Yuri's base stats (and Floor 4 Yuri isn't quite uber-broken anyway.).  As for the last fight...  Cloud doesn't have Restore All materia, and surprisingly enough (I just looked it up) Yuri doesn't have Arc Cure.  Cloud and Yuri will have to kill Rydia first thing.  This means that NUKE and Dark Fry are incoming, and that's nearly a MT OHKO to average.  If most of the team's healing is single target, this could be problematic.  Even if Juan + the team can knock out Erim in round 2 (har Lufia2 bosses), Chaos might still finish the job.

[Shale]

Millenia can't SBE both Empy and Marcello, and both pack Waves of Ice. 

Question to those who might know, since I can't check right now: Is it possible to have SBE applied to two distinct targets at once? Because Marcello is vulnerable to stat-downs, which means it's at least theoretically possible (don't have time to crunch the numbers on whether it's feasible) to slow him, haste Millennia, and have her double up. If I can get both of them SBE'd at once, it's game.

[Cmdr_King]

Well...

Gun Mage, Thief, Luc3: None of these guys are immune to Frog.  While Thief does indeed have stop and First Strike, this doesn't mean what you think it means; FFX-2 First Strike just gives you ATB initiative.  Charge times, which Steal Time has, are still in full effect.  As I figure it... Cloud Frogs Gun Mage (X-2's blue mage class, such things need death.)  Rikku can stop whoever she wants, the rest of the team still kills Luc before Eternal Wind goes off, and finish her off since she gives everyone another turn due to having to wait for both her ATB turn and the CT to go again.

Erim, Rydia, Chaos: Rydia also doesn't get Frog.  So only Cloud eats a turn taking her out of the fight.  Yuri can exploit Erim's holy weakness, giving the team at least fighting odds of killing her before her turn (hurray slowness).  Chaos alone shouldn't be able to stop the team?  Although it's a slow battle with no MT healing on my side and only Yuri (and miming him) really bringing magical offense.

Honestly I'm more worried about that 'DL Legal' Rikku.

[Nephrite]

Rydia most certainly does get Frog.

[Cmdr_King]

As an immunity?  If she does Meeple does not list it anywhere in his stat topic.

Obviously she can CAST it. >.>

Edit: To clarify, even if she cures herself of frog, she's still not killing the party, keeping her tied up until at least Erim's dead.  After that it's a matter of deciding if killing Rydia to focus fully on Chaos or just letting Cloud tie her up is more effective.

[Nephrite]

Oh, I see. You are correct, then, I don't think anything blocks Frog.

But what prevents her from casting MT Frog on your party?

[Excal]

Not to mention the fact that something that's almost a OHKO is going to kill Juan, as he doesn't really have durability.

[Cmdr_King]

Uh... if Rydia's not casting offensive spells, what exactly is almost OHKOing?

That said... hmmph.  Will need to look up Yuri's Light fusion.  It's possible it has sufficent AoE to hit both Erim and Rydia, which makes the whole Frog thing moot.  At any rate Rydia is also slower than the entire team so it's not a huge deal, although it might force Juan to use his turn to kill her rather than piling on Erim.

[Shale]

Millenia can't SBE both Empy and Marcello, and both pack Waves of Ice. 

Question to those who might know, since I can't check right now: Is it possible to have SBE applied to two distinct targets at once? Because Marcello is vulnerable to stat-downs, which means it's at least theoretically possible (don't have time to crunch the numbers on whether it's feasible) to slow him, haste Millennia, and have her double up. If I can get both of them SBE'd at once, it's game.

Testing done, and it is possible. So. I need Millennia to stay alive long enough to get get two uninterrupted turns. Give me some time on this one, as there is math involved and I'm running on four hours of sleep.

[superaielman]

Team Commander | Yuri2, Cloud, Juan, Bowser, Mime
[Floor 4c]
[Cloud: Restore (M), Transform (M), Revive (M), HP Plus (U)]
Team Commander vs. Lufia, Child Rydia and FF1 Garland- Rydia's not fast by any measure that I can think of as a kid. She's the only real threat here.
Team Commander vs. Rikku (DL Legal), Aeonless Yuna and S1 Luc-  Luc is walling ID here I think.
Team Commander vs. Fort Zeakden Algus, Balk, Undead Dark Knight Argath and Undead Balk
Team Commander vs. Gun Mage Yuna, Thief Rikku and S3 Luc- Stop Yuri, ID Bowser/Mime. What's the team going to do to win here again? Cloud can revive but he's only one person, Juan isn't a factor till he wakes up. Team also has no one with any traces of speed so the entire team gets a free crack at him in.. several battles. I'm not sure he gets past the S1 Luc fight. 
Team Commander vs. Lufia 2 Erim, Rydia and Chaos - Boss fight is similarly bad. Rydia has to die and not via Cloud (Rydia can reverse transform). Chaos+Erim both specialize in MT damage as well, making this a very uphill fight.

[Shale]

...that was easier than I thought. Going on straight CTB conversion, 100 clockticks for an average turn:

Tidus brings Sonic Steel, initiative slows Marcello. He is now .56X average speed. Rikku, initiative speed 1.45, hastes Millennia. This is at .69 of an average turn. Millennia is now 1.85X average speed or so. Before Rikku's turn, she was 64% of the way to a turn. Hasted, she needs 19 more clockticks to get to her action. That's a total of 83 clockticks to get an action, just faster than Empyria (1.13X average speed needs 88 clockticks to act). She gets a turn and SBE's. Now it's a footrace between Millennia with haste and slowed Marcello with a head start of nearly a full average turn. That's not close to making up for Millennia's speed being better than triple his. Marcello needs 177 clockticks to get a turn. Subtract the 83 that have already elapsed and he still needs 94. Millennia needs 54. She acts first, SBE, enemy party never gets a turn.

Haste and Slow in the same fight is a beautiful thing.

[dude789]

All three fail. Also the new floor 4 and the redone one are evil.

[SnowFire]

Re Marcello & Empyrea: Cool, I'll buy that.  Shale passes.

Team Commander | Yuri2, Cloud, Juan, Bowser, Mime
[Floor 4c]
[Cloud: Restore (M), Transform (M), Revive (M), HP Plus (U)]
Team Commander vs. Lufia, Child Rydia and FF1 Garland- Laugh it up now against them.  They'll get their revenge later.
Team Commander vs. Rikku (DL Legal), Aeonless Yuna and S1 Luc- Uh, Yuna probably OHKOs Yuri who's stuck in an initial dark form with Holy.  Rikku does whatever.  Cloud probably Transforms Yuna (Mime tries again if he misses though).  The team can tank the Shredding (which just wakes up Juan anyway), and then kill Luc.  Once only transformed Yuna is left, revive Yuri and heal up.  I guess Yuna could play defensively with Reflect?  But then she'll lose Luc, her offense is only ST, Yuri will take a Holy form so he can't be OHKOed, and her evasion can't hold out forever.
Team Commander vs. Fort Zeakden Algus, Balk, Undead Dark Knight Argath and Undead Balk - Balk's forms are pretty speedy, and his Lost Sacred Precincts form actually hurts a fair amount, but I think Cloud can probably handle the healing since they don't really have any MT.  Just beat up Argath before he can do anything really nasty.  If he attacks Cloud's MP, well, Cloud probably has enough anyway, and Yuri can Mind Assault back up.
Team Commander vs. Gun Mage Yuna, Thief Rikku and S3 Luc - See concerns above?  If they're fast enough to take down S3 Luc with a stopped Cloud, then great, but otherwise, ouch.  Also apparently Gun Mage has horrific moves of doom with huge charge times, but hopefully Juan will be awake by then to prevent that from happening.
Team Commander vs. Lufia 2 Erim, Rydia and Chaos
Mm.  As another thought on Commander's final fight...  which is unfortunately probably irrelevant now, as it came to me when I thought Cloud could Frog Rydia out.  Yuri has *Energy Charge*.  Cloud Transforms Rydia, Yuri ECs, Mime ECs, Horrible flaming death kills Juan and hurts everyone else a whole lot, Cloud limits and heals Yuri, Bowser attacks Chaos, and then next turn Yuri/Mime inflict horrible punchy doom on Chaos.  Cloud heals up himself, the rest of the team bites it to Dark Fry, and then Yuri/Cloud take on Erim (probably successfully unless Cloud's MP ran down too much during the dungeon).

Of course, if Cloud can't spend just a single turn to neutralize Rydia, I guess they'll have to kill her.  I forget how large an area Nova struck, but it'd be nice if Yuri could nail her and Erim at the same time with it.

[Clear Tranquil]

Yuri2 doesn't get Arc Cure? Huh. Weird. Oh well he has access to at least three Soul Drops by now as I peg SHC midgame as the end of disc one, so for the fights he'll have L3s for the stat boosts instead.

Edit: Oh yeah I forgot how much SHC light fusions sucked compared to the first game >_> Still he could always pour soul energy into light and get Pulse for massive nukage of Rydia with a little being put into the L3 wind to get Arc Gale for the previous fight/s. I like this idea~ Team Commander vs dungeon.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I think maybe they all pass? Actually, I'm really not sure on Piggyman, so abstain for now.

For Shale, the Rikku Overdrives are pretty ridiculous... My Millenia respect is pretty high, so I'm generally convinced his team makes it. The Megalixer Overdrives handle any resource problems he may have pretty well.

Commander. I think he has the best chance to pass under my interpretations as Cloud is almost certainly going to have a decent Limit Break built up by the final fight, which he can use to take out Rydia or put some severe hurt on Erim. Regardless, Yuri and Mime wipe up the remainders, with Juan and Bowser just kind of being there.

I'm not entirely sure on the Algus/Balk/Balk/Argath fight, but I think he squeaks by there with enough time to heal up for the remaining fights.

-Djinn

[Clear Tranquil]

Team Hax - Hmmm Big Bangs are scary *thinking* Two final bosses are scary even >_> The team passes the first two fights easily enough due to the Tidus + Millenia hax for the first fight and Rikku mixing Megalixer so they can do it again for the second. I have the generous habit of allowing characters with bars of any kind to start with them at full <_<  Can Rikku get her overdrive back up for the third fight? Maybe, there are three enemies in the second battle and it helps that the team is taking a while to kill things anyway >_> Don't really have respect for Lavos and Lynx but say Rikku manages yet another overdrive putting Millenia in shape for the fourth fight. This lot should take a while to go down ... Rikku manages to Megalixer the team before they finish the opponents off. Finally the team is still in mint condition for the final bosses, gets the drop on them with Initiative Haste + Spellbinding Eye ... Wow that really is hax. Unless any of those bosses have some way of bypassing initiative that I don't remember it looks gold for Shale.

How come Shale didn't get any shinies from you for this floor Neph? o_o

[Taishyr]

It's endgame, not aftergame, so he gets no shineys.

[Clear Tranquil]

... oohhh. Right. Haha for some reason I thought Shale was on floor eight already >_>