FF9 Hatbot solo challenge continues…
Black Waltz 2:
Uh yeah…according to a FAQ after fast forwarding once, you can’t win this with Garnet alone. The moment she is, boss casts Sleep and it’s a Game Over >_>. So you have to break the rules regardless. Because of that, I just went all out and used the entire team. Still harder than you think since Steiner and Vivi had no time to get any abilities or power up, so they die in like a hit (2 for Steiner!), so it Garnet + Zidane vs. the world. Well, Black Waltz 2 anyway. A little while later though, boss goes down. You could finish it with Garnet by leveling up to level 15 and cast Shiva three times while healing yourself with Ethers between each cast. Levelling up Garnet is like the most painful thing ever. Its doable, but every battle is like 10 minutes and borderline life and death. So I just got it out of the way.
Black Waltz 3:
YES. No more Garnet. Hatbot rolled Zidane. You know what that means. Slicey Slicey.
I took some time to get some money here since I was low thanks to running around a lot with Garnet >_>. Thankfully, you only have Zidane for a short bit, so I just used that and solo gained moneys for buying stuff.
Hunter Festival:
Let Freya win this. You WANT the Coral Ring. 5000 gil is nice, but solo leveling solves Gil problems. You can’t forge a Coral Ring right now and you really want it since quite a few enemies on route to Burmecia use it.
On route to Gizamazuluke’s Grotto:
The field monsters take a sudden worse for the turn here. They become a lot worse. Although it doesn’t feel like it, since my last few hours were using Garnet with her 7 DAMAGE A TURN BUT BECOMES 12 DAMAGE UNDER TRANCE YESZ Rod. Hatbot rolls Freya. Awesome. However, the enemies are still no slouch as mentioned.
Bugs: 150 damage per Fire spell usually comes in packs of 3. Freya started at level 8, which gave her 400 HP or so. The good news is, she OHKO them with a base physical. So it was just rush rush rush and hope they don’t all go for the same attack on the first turn
Lizard/Scorpion hybrid: These things can heal. Not cool when you’re by yourself. Them healing usually means more damage taken, meaning more resources used. Oh, and they have Thundara as well. Hope you have that Coral Ring!
Hedgehog Pie: There damage is pretty good. Almost died to one of these. Change to back row and Jump them to death.
Gizamazuluke’s Grotto:
Bugs: Can Berserk. Still die to one physical though with Bug Killer
Skeletons: Have Thunder magic and can use Whirl Sword. Not a big problem
Black Mage Type A: Come in packs of two. Decently competent on damage (with two of them at least). Have Thunder damage as well as Ice Damage, later of which can be reduced with Silver Gloves.
Lamia: Hate. These things hit hard. And you can’t hit weakness on them. Backrow and start Jumping. Use Hi-Potions if needed if you can’t run. I recommended running over fighting since they are so not worth the effort. I tried blinding them with a tent but the game hates me since it failed everytime.
Gizamazuluke:
The first reset was complete and utter HAX. Anyways, strategy of use Tent and blind him works. Except he went through Blind the first time and killed me with his physical. Second time, better set up. With Bronze Helm to reduce Water damage initially + Back row to soften physicals. Tents until he is blind and silenced. Mop up time.
There’s a stock up point here with Steiner and Garnet. Buy lots and lots of Potions. Oh and also some Softs.
Burmecia:
Basilliks Can Petrify you. Freya doesn’t have access to Jelly yet, so use Softs as needed. One Jump is usually enough, although if your level is low, you may need an additional poke to win
Mimic: Pretty bad on damage. But they summon Magic Vices, which steal items. KILL
Magic Vices: Steals items and casts Magic Hammer. This might matter if I rolled Vivi. Thankfully I did not though. Freya initially lacks the damage to one shot them though, so its usually just better to run.
Black Mages: See above!
Ironite: Hit pretty hard with Flame or Thundara. Can’t block Flame, but Thundara can be reduced. After that, Jump + Dragon Killer physicals go to town.
Beatrix:
Need to be at least level 18 for this. Shock! Deals 700+ damage. I fought this at level 16 and got OHKO’d >_>. Leveled up to 20, which was a bit overkill, but made the fight very easy. Just stall. You can theoretically deal enough damage, but every physical requires a Heal since you risk getting killed off by Shock otherwise. Oh and Coral Ring absorb Thunder Slash and backrow to soften physicals.
And with that, Disc 1 is done.