XF challenge log~
1-4-B (prison)
Not really part of the challenge per se, but since a lot of people have trouble with it, here goes. Replica and Rob Turn are both used to distract the boss as the main force of villagers move past her. Levin kills the two Fantasticas nearest him, while Tony and Felius distract the enemies near the back, making sure they don't advance forward. I do actually heal the old man once but it turns out to be quite unneeded.
Also worth noting at this point is that Clarissa has spent some time in both Elementalist and Dandelion Shot, enough to have both OCs mastered.
1-5 (jelly blobs)
So yeah, I can recruit people now! After some experimenting I discover that yes, it's quite possible to get generics with much better total stats than the plot PCs, and despite the elemental weaknesses they carry this is just too good to ignore. Felius just isn't good enough to be competitive, and Labby's stats are just game-worst overall. Clarissa draws into the main party because 20% resistance to all is cool, Sacrifice is awesome, and Encourage is really handy (and unlike Turn Shift, actually cost-efficient). In general I'm speculating that MP is going to be a potential problem in this challenge, managing it will kinda be key. This screws over a few moves which have high costs which don't lead directly to victory, namely Turn Shift and Cancel Strike. ... I still expect to use Turn Shift quite a lot, but yeah.
Anyway, I hire two generics, named Elayne (better HP/Mag/Eva than any plot PC, better Atk/Def/MP than all but one plot PC respectively, average Rfx, below average only in Res and Aim) and Vin (better HP than any plot PC, better Atk/Res/MP than all but one respectively, above average Aim/Eva/Rfx, below average Def/Mag). Maybe I shouldn't have settled for a below average magic stat but I wanted at least one PC to be strong in all of Atk/Aim/HP/MP, and with those qualifications you can't be too picky.
So yeah, not too much to say about the jelly blob fight as it's mostly prep for the swamp battle. Everyone is Elementalist so that they can learn the OC for the battle that comes after this. Light all torches, nuke blobs with fire as they come out, simple stuff. The gremalkins are a little more ostensibly troublesome because they have 30% resistance to all elements, but not only does this still leave them open to 3-4HKOs from my Elementalists, they get one-shotted by Sacrifice, and there are only three of them. One of them does hit me with HP Down which means I do have to watch for damage a little but uh not really, the blobs only attack if you're adjacent to one after it has run as far from the swamp as it can on its turn.
For some reason this battle gives 17 CSP instead of the 9 I'd expect it to yield, I guess maybe lighting torches is worth 2 apiece?
Elayne and Vin snag Elementalist OC, Clarissa learns Elementalist EQ.
1-6 (swamp)
Definitely the first tricky battle of the challenge. A large number of the enemies are on a 4h plateau towards the end of the map, so magic is the only way to kill them besides Labyrinthia (who might as well only be good at magic) and Tony (who is a decent option here, though I don't actually use him). I guess Felius can too but Upper Hand strikes me as too MP-inefficient, not to mention its range is problematic. I decide to give it a go with my main party, anyway.
Clarissa: Dandelion Shot; Elementalist OC, Elementalist EQ (book + brooch)
Elayne: Gadgeteer; Elementalist OC
Vin: Fantastica; Elementalist OC
I avoid Elementalist itself because it would mean needing to trek through the swamp, which aside from taking ages causes annoying poison.
Anyway, hit weaknesses, profit. Simple enough, although most of the enemies here have Magic Blocker which can muck things up a bit. First real problem is Samille, who as a geomancer is highly elementally resistance. Sacrifice is used to take him out, combined with Slow Down to make sure he doesn't go too heal-happy with his berries. Berries are definitely used to patch up damage from Samille and the elementalists, not to mention Sacrifice; Gadgeteer pays off here of course.
The plateau is the real problem. I do pay for using generics here some as the elemental weaknesses aren't too pleasant, although they aren't always hit so I guess it's not as bad as it could be. I nuke and heal well enough (cursing Magic Blocker whenever it kicks in). At one point I do lose Vin, but I toss a Revive Fruit so it's all good. Moving away from the pillar to safely heal is of course an option, and one I use with Clarissa to make sure Sacrifice stays at full power. More problematic is that my MP reserves start to run low. El Jackson himself is a pest since he actually resists all elements and has loads of Res, so he doesn't take more than 20-30 damage from anything. Except Sacrifice! So yeah, Slow Down + Sacrifice is again needed here. I end up killing him with the very last Sacrifice Clarissa has; if it had hit magic blocker, it'd have meant a reset, especially since Elayne was also out of MP by this point and Vin would not be capable of dealing with the rest herself with her few remaining shots.
Elayne and Vin master their respective current OCs.
1-7-A (collapsing guardian shrine)
99 turn limit on this battle; it's actually one which is helpful to use less PCs in anyway, since you burn fewer turns that way. So yeah, not an especially hard battle, even though it's a little nerve-racking at first since by turn 40 I'm not sure I had killed any enemies yet!
Clarissa: Dandelion Shot; Elementalist OC, Elementalist EQ (book + brooch)
Elayne: Elementalist; Gadgeteer OC
Vin: Secutor; Fantastica OC, Elementalist OC
I decide to rout all enemies to maximise my Exp/CSP gains. Clarissa goes left to deal with the four Elementalists, because she resists their stuff. She also turns out to be quite capable of OHKOing any of them when she hits a weakness, just needs to worry about Magic Blocker (which she hits twice). Vin goes right because Secutor is the most physically durable thing my party has (yeah, earlygame options who aren't Felius aren't very good at this), and she has enough oomph to one-shot all but one of the enemy secutors in that direction, two-shotting the other. It's still a little scary since the secutors are pretty damaging (3-shotting with Hard Smash), but they miss sometimes and they're strangely bad at swarming (I think the PC on the central path acts as a weird sort of distraction), plus I do have healing, so yeah. Elayne just goes to grab the treasure then kill the Sentinel in the middle, who is a death tank with over 500 HP. He's so tanky that, between his use of his own healing berries, I'm not able to finish him off until Vin comes around from the back and helps out. Over in 70-something turns.
No resets yet! We'll see how long this lasts.
