DL Twink League 2014 Week 3

[Cmdr_King]

Refer back to the Noms Topic for setups.  Any dueller with an * has a Twink build.

Labyrinthia Wordsworth (Wild ARMs XF)* (2-0) vs Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)*  (1-1)
Luther Lansfeld (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time) (0-2) vs Claude C. Kenny (Star Ocean: The Second Story)* (1-1)
Beast Rune (Suikoden II) (0-2) vs Edward 'Edge' Geraldine (Final Fantasy IV)* (1-1)
Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X) (1-1) vs Miakis (Suikoden V)* (1-1)

Millenia (Grandia II)* (1-1) vs Lucian (Valkyrie Profile)* (2-0)
Captain Crow (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (0-2) vs T260G (SaGa Frontier) (0-2)
Jade (Breath of Fire) (1-1) vs Dheginsea (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn) (1-1)
Cidolfas Orlandu (Final Fantasy Tactics) (1-1) vs Arceus (Pokémon) (2-0)

Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts) (0-2) vs Alternis Dim (Bravely Default) (0-2)
Maxim (Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals)* (1-1) vs Peach Toadstool (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)* (1-1)
Ghaleon (Lunar: Silver Star Story) (0-2)  vs Virginia Maxwell (Wild ARMs 3)* (1-1)
Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)* (2-0) vs Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)* (2-0)

Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)* (1-1) vs Ryu (Breath of Fire IV) (1-1)
Empyrea (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (1-1) vs Tiz Arrior (Bravely Default)* (1-1)
Rebecca Streisand (Wild ARMs 5)* (0-2) vs Lenna Charlotte Tycoon (Final Fantasy V)* (2-0)
Isolde Schelling (Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis) (2-0) vs Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI) (1-1)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Labyrinthia Wordsworth (Wild ARMs XF)* (2-0) vs Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)*  (1-1) - A Labby fight I can vote on, well I never. Well, for starters, I think Labby should come as a Grappler, sporting Sentinel EQ and OC along with Caution, DISTORTION and DEF +25%. This, along with buffering the lower end hits from his DBs, also shuts down 4 AP and maybe even 5 AP DBs (which lowers damage potential on AP building strings), so Citan hopefully can't -quite- chip through Red Zone range. Since Citan's pdur off this setup runs at an amazing 44% PC HP, if Labby gets a turn, she could Force Field-stall for Power Charge shenanigans and build Heavy Strike into OHKO range (Sentinel's Heavy Strike -would- OHKO, but Labby's base ATK sucks). But this absolutely -necessitates- Labby to have enough pdur to not be chipped into death range, and that might not be viable. I'll need to check her effective HP and def after class swapping shenanigans. EDIT: And it isn't enough. Yeah, at worst, buff, chip-build AP => smash.
Luther Lansfeld (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time) (0-2) vs Claude C. Kenni (Star Ocean: The Second Story)* (1-1) - Oh dear god.
Beast Rune (Suikoden II) (0-2) vs Edward 'Edge' Geraldine (Final Fantasy IV)* (1-1) - Uh Edge isn't much of a fan of NE magic and his offense just plain sucks outside of that one Knife shot. I think this works out for Beast Rune for once.
Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X) (1-1) vs Miakis (Suikoden V)* (1-1) - I -think-. 'lesca can spoil the hell out of Miakis' gimmick draining games (which would be a nice way to break past her) and she doesn't have the offense to one-round Yunalesca reliably.

Millenia (Grandia II)* (1-1) vs Lucian (Valkyrie Profile)* (2-0) - Iunno, SBE => Heel Stomp until Lucian can't do anything likely works. Stram spam might actually be even simpler, since Lucian is all basic melee and Move -5 means he's literally stuck in his own shoes forever.
Captain Crow (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (0-2) vs T260G (SaGa Frontier) (0-2) - I think so, T2 pdur is so gross, she's so much faster and slugfests so much better.
Cidolfas Orlandu (Final Fantasy Tactics) (1-1) vs Arceus (Pokémon) (2-0) - Ghost Plate.

Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts) (0-2) vs Alternis Dim (Bravely Default) (0-2) - This is kinda lol. Yuri doesn't even have the MP to chip through Alternis' danger range.
Maxim (Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals)* (1-1) vs Peach Toadstool (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)* (1-1) - Troopa Pin means Toadstool's faster than Maxim, so go first => Sleepy Time => Psych Bomb until Maxim dies, he gets no sleep immunity.
Ghaleon (Lunar: Silver Star Story) (0-2) vs Virginia Maxwell (Wild ARMs 3)* (1-1) - In theory, Ginny could vaporize Ghaleon with a sufficiently strong Valiant Gatling string, but my kneejerk is she doesn't have the time to pull it off without non-FP consuming healing to help her out.
Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)* (2-0) vs Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)* (2-0) - EDITEDIT: Aura Renzokuken is slow? Yay!

Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)* (1-1) vs Ryu (Breath of Fire IV) (1-1) - Well, ITD OHKO faster than Ryu is a nice way to kill him...
Empyrea (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (1-1) vs Tiz Arrior (Bravely Default)* (1-1) - Feel No Pain => rocks fall, everyone dies.
Isolde Schelling (Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis) (2-0) vs Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI) (1-1) - Bunker Pillar bullshit best bullshit.

[Tide]

Just some random notes/thoughts

Citan can swap to an armor if durability is that much of an issue, at the cost of about 220% average speed (drops him to 540%). CK, do you remember if there was an armor that boosted your attack as your HP goes down? My memory says that it exists, but I couldn't find notes about it the last time I was checking through GFAQs and I haven't played XG in a long time.

Ramza wins pretty cleany to Squall. Seems like the twink league brought up issues regarding scaling. But its FF8, its always been a mess to a certain degree. I certainly find it hard in normal DL to accept that Squall has a 2HKO physical. As to how to scale Squall, his junctions should certain reflect that he has a stat advantage in those areas (at least better than "average" level junctions). That being said, it does not matter for this fight. Ramza walks in with the following:

Class is Squire
- Math Skill
- Blade Grasp
- Magic Attack Up (most likely).

Equipment
- Aegis Shield
- Judo Outfit
- Jade Armlet

This effectively cuts out all easy ways of victory. Squall can't Death/Petrify Ramza thanks to equips. His magic runs at 50% accuracy at best outside of some very specific spells which I would argue as ignoring M-Eva (but even then, this can be argued) due to Aegis. Blade Grasp shuts down most physical type builds and Math Skill gets through Reflect. Squall has really only two options: 1) Try to get a Triple cast Meteor off, but this is unlikely as no single GF has Mag/Spd junctions as a combo and 2) Insta-double and try winning with Aura Renzokuken. How effective this is, is based on how much you respect FF8 Initiative/Speed.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

I'm not sure how much it effectively matters, Tide? It depends on how much power Labby can save up under Force Field spam - in that case, she'll also want to equip the MP saving/restoring skills she's allowed. Since he can only equip one piece of armor, he's always under a defensive disadvantage. The fundamental deal in the fight is whether Citan can chip through Red Zone range or not, and I'm suspecting Citan can get enough of an offensive edge that it'll pan out (the obscene speed difference alone likely means he might be able to pull it off - buff => accumulate AP => 2HKO). But I'll have to work the kinks out on that.

[SnowFire]

How does the Distortion interact with the likes of Six-Shooter in-game?  Will it totally null everything if it can null 1 attack, or does it use the final damage amount?

[Dark Holy Elf]

Distortion only blocks the final damage total of Six-Shooter, Predator Barrage, etc. However, it should be noted that XF doesn't completely separate these moves into different discernable hits (only one damage number is shown) so your milage may vary on translating that to other games' systems. I certainly wouldn't see Distortion nulling out Star Ocean damage because it's done in lots of small hits, but it blocking, say, separate parts of a stored-up-AP combo seems at least possible. (Not certain, myself.)

Insta-double and try winning with Aura Renzokuken. How effective this is, is based on how much you respect FF8 Initiative/Speed.

Now that I actually look this up... it isn't really that great. Initiative just seems to be "start with full bar"... but PCs already start with heavily randomised bars (the exact average depends on speed, but it's not too far from 50) so it's really only half an extra turn, not a full one. With Aura, the chance of a limit is still only 24% (if you remember it being higher, you probably didn't have full HP), so even if you allow this it will take on average four button-mashes. Combine these facts and it's pretty impossible to reliably Initiative->Aura->Limit before an opponent gets a turn unless said opponent is really slow. Even if you scale this against unjunctioned PCs it may not be enough, since an unjunctioned PC still gets their first turn in about 1.5 seconds. I'm pretty skeptical that you can choose the Aura spell, refill your bar (which alone will take over 1 second even with 70 speed from Triple + Speed+40%), and then mash circle the ~4 times needed to get a limit, then select it.

Now, it may still be possible for Squall to instant double average opponents and use a non-limit if scaled against unjunctioned PCs [that depends on murky ATB interp calls], and there are other things he can do which, again, against unjunctioned averages, would give him a win here. (Triple Meteor is surely gross overkill even unjunctioned, or he can try to tank although Ramza may be able to do Paralysis -> some turn 2 status even against Status-Def-J.) Pretty sure Tide is right that against higher averages that Ramza has the answers needed, here, though.


To further an argument from last week, I definitely think there is a "reasonable in-game" which is far from the max junctioning we are seeing here (I don't think normal FF8 scaling involves 300 Ultimas!). Conveniently we already should have a rough idea of what that is: what we scale FF8 bosses against. The type of scaling which makes Raijin a borderline Light/Middle (rather than the badass Heavy/Godlike he is against unjunctioned PCs or the Puny he is against 300 Ultimas/Triples/Full-Lifes/Meteors) seems a fair, happy medium for this particular Squall setup. Its high stats are still extremely good but not "overkill with FF8 physicals" good. Obviously a big YMMV applies to scaling twinks; there really isn't a "right" way, but I do think this one is probably the most reasonable overall.

[DragonKnight Zero]

Ghaleon (Lunar: Silver Star Story) (0-2)  vs Virginia Maxwell (Wild ARMs 3)* (1-1)
Leaning Ghaleon here.  Believe he can dish out damage faster than Virginia can recover with Life Charge, even after the damage reduction from defending (even at max FP) and her insane speed advantage.  It takes her two turns minimum to set up her buffs (Guard and Mystic the Bone) which gives him a headstart on the damage race.  She also has issues breaking through Chaos Shield.  So much as it amuse me to have Copy Ability as her best source of damage (probably grabs the elemental spells and maybe Hell Wave), this matchup favors Ghaleon.

Now if someone sees Copy Ability as gaining Chaos Shield, things get interesting.  I don't see that happening though.

Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)* (2-0) vs Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)* (2-0)
Sure, I'll go with Triple + Meteor going before Ramza gets a turn (using Cerberus mad speed hax) but not Aura + Renzokuken.  Thinking Ranza can spoil with MP Switch or Counter Magic somehow.  He's free to use Reflect Mail since that combined with Blade Grasp stalls Squall's status game.  Thoughts?

In the end, I'm going on the side of the fence that lets him Triple Meteor before Ramza can move.  Even with only one initial turn, an opening Shell causes all sorts of problem for Ramza's status options.

Rebecca Streisand (Wild ARMs 5)* (0-2) vs Lenna Charlotte Tycoon (Final Fantasy V)* (2-0)
Trying to tickle someone to death when the target has Drain Spellblade?  That will end well.

[Random Consonant]

Labyrinthia Wordsworth (Wild ARMs XF)* vs Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)* - Gut says he manages?  Even with everything going on here, Labby's base stats are still kind of shit.
Beast Rune (Suikoden II) vs Edward 'Edge' Geraldine (Final Fantasy IV)* - NE magic?  Sure.
Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X) vs Miakis (Suikoden V)*

Millenia (Grandia II)* vs Lucian (Valkyrie Profile)* - SBE and Heel Crush spam, sure.  I assume she can string that together, which she kind of needs since she has no other way of reducing move.
Cidolfas Orlandu (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs Arceus (Pokémon) - Ghost plate takes a fair amount of wind out of Cid's sails.

Maxim (Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals)* vs Peach Toadstool (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)* - oops
Ghaleon (Lunar: Silver Star Story)  vs Virginia Maxwell (Wild ARMs 3)*
Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)* vs Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)*

Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)* vs Ryu (Breath of Fire IV)- welp
Rebecca Streisand (Wild ARMs 5)* vs Lenna Charlotte Tycoon (Final Fantasy V)* - Regen alone creates some serious issues here, never mind anything else.
Isolde Schelling (Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis) vs Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI) - Most excellent excrement from masculine bovines.

[Tide]

With Aura, the chance of a limit is still only 24% (if you remember it being higher, you probably didn't have full HP), so even if you allow this it will take on average four button-mashes. Combine these facts and it's pretty impossible to reliably Initiative->Aura->Limit before an opponent gets a turn unless said opponent is really slow. Even if you scale this against unjunctioned PCs it may not be enough, since an unjunctioned PC still gets their first turn in about 1.5 seconds.

I would not put inputting the entire command series in 1.5 seconds as impossible. Do take that with a grain of salt though since I'm speaking from the eyes of a speedrunner where complicated menuing maneuvers have to be done often times in only a few seconds. By comparison, inputting Aura then Limit scumming is as easy as spamming Accumulate in FFT. You can put Aura on the top of the spell list and Magic as the second command, then just push down, and mash X, then mash triangle. I'm actually more surprised that people seem to think Aura = Instant Limit. It's not. It simply adds 1 to your Crisis Level, so at max HP, it gives you a fairly lowish roll rate (24% as you noted). I was under the impression that most people don't even consider limit scumming, which really confused me. Now, whether or not he gets to Limit Break in 1.5 seconds is a different story since that is all luck, and it can easily take more rolls. I'm sure that you can lengthen that by decreasing the ATB speed though.

Also, Ramza probably needs to go with Reflect Mail/Blade Grasp as DragonKnight Zero noted. I just realized this morning that there were more statii that Squall could sling than Ramza could block that would all be fatal (Sleep/Stop for starters). The flip side of this, is that it forces Squall to use Cerberus to block the same types of lethal status. Only problem is that Squall doesn't have a catch all like Ramza. Most notably BERZERK is also lethal in this match up, and that's exactly what Ramza uses if he can't OHKO Squall with a Math Skill Flare. He should though since Cerberus Squall has no HP-J which means compared to 'average' junctions, his HP would be below average and Flare will easily do more than that after being boosted with MAU and MA boosting gear. So Squall's only other choice as noted before is to go with Pandemona and try to kill Ramza with Aura Renzo or Triple Meteor. The one GF he would like to use for stalling doesn't have Spd or St-J so its a sitting duck.

[Dhyerwolf]

Just some random notes/thoughts

Citan can swap to an armor if durability is that much of an issue, at the cost of about 220% average speed (drops him to 540%). CK, do you remember if there was an armor that boosted your attack as your HP goes down? My memory says that it exists, but I couldn't find notes about it the last time I was checking through GFAQs and I haven't played XG in a long time.

The accessory "Power Crisis" has this effect.

[Dhyerwolf]

Labyrinthia Wordsworth (Wild ARMs XF)* (2-0) vs Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)*  (1-1)- This is a gut reaction. Citan drops some speed for armor...and then Labby needs to survive like 4 attacks from him. It's hard to imagine. Her Pdur isn't going to be the level of base Sentinel (probably more in the 1.4 range maybe? Not sure how her bases work). Not really seeing Distortion work on anything but total damage here, and then 4 Citan attacks should do Labby in (and with armor, don't think she's killing him in a hit)
Luther Lansfeld (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time) (0-2) vs Claude C. Kenny (Star Ocean: The Second Story)* (1-1)
Beast Rune (Suikoden II) (0-2) vs Edward 'Edge' Geraldine (Final Fantasy IV)* (1-1)
Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X) (1-1) vs Miakis (Suikoden V)* (1-1)

Millenia (Grandia II)* (1-1) vs Lucian (Valkyrie Profile)* (2-0)- Interesting. I  think Millenia's speed just slightly fucks her up here as I don't believe SBE stacks (but...it could. I'm not sure I thought to test it). She has 22.5 seconds after SBE to get in before it wears off. The third HC goes off at 21.25 speed...but I guess she'll have slowed Lucian down enough that she'll lap him getting the SBE again. So yeah, think she wins, although not horribly cleanly.
Captain Crow (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (0-2) vs T260G (SaGa Frontier) (0-2)
Jade (Breath of Fire) (1-1) vs Dheginsea (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn) (1-1)- Jade's attack here are funny. Either extreme massive overkill or can't do any actual damage at all.
Cidolfas Orlandu (Final Fantasy Tactics) (1-1) vs Arceus (Pokémon) (2-0)- Can't vote, but by the principal of Arceus needing to protect against Orlandu's best and Orlandu then defaulting to his second best=Orlandu uses Ice Brand, drops damage and speed, Ghost Plate is a non-factor. Then...shouldn't that give Arceus a bit of trouble? Orlandu can still drain until the cows come home, is fast still (Arceus is faster, but Orlandu is at least still clocking in around 115% speed, so it's not horrible. At 25% SD, Arceus appears to be 141.5% speed. My 15% SD puts it around 125%)

The good for Arceus is that with Judgement->Hyper Beam, it does 2HKO. Granted, it may need to double and then get both moves to hit on the double through magic evade on the shield. So depending on how you see speed and evade here, I think it can go either way. Of course, Arceus does need to spend some turns of healing while Orlandu can always play on the offensive.

That said...hmm, there is one other way this could potentially play out, and that's if Ghost Plate would trump the effect from Icewolf Bite. If not, then Orlandu goes first, breaks Ghost Plate and cruises to easy victory.

Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts) (0-2) vs Alternis Dim (Bravely Default) (0-2)
Maxim (Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals)* (1-1) vs Peach Toadstool (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)* (1-1)- Snow, it's only the enemy SMRPG Sleep that lasts through magic damage. Toadstool's version is cancelled by taking any damage, so she can't use it for this type of lockdown.
Ghaleon (Lunar: Silver Star Story) (0-2)  vs Virginia Maxwell (Wild ARMs 3)* (1-1)
Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)* (2-0) vs Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)* (2-0)

Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)* (1-1) vs Ryu (Breath of Fire IV) (1-1)
Empyrea (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (1-1) vs Tiz Arrior (Bravely Default)* (1-1)
Rebecca Streisand (Wild ARMs 5)* (0-2) vs Lenna Charlotte Tycoon (Final Fantasy V)* (2-0)
Isolde Schelling (Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis) (2-0) vs Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI) (1-1)

[SnowFire]

Checking the Battle Mechanics guide, "MIGHTY SWORD breaks the item in question 100% of the time", so presumably it'd break past even the likes of Golem.  So yeah, Arceus isn't keeping his Plate for long.

Labyrinthia Wordsworth (Wild ARMs XF)* (2-0) vs Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)*  (1-1) - If Six-Shooter calculates whether the Distortion applies *after* the total, I'm pretty inclined to let XG combos get a similar treatment - the Distortion is pretty bad in-game even if you twink for it, and no Yamikei in the averages for me, so not really inclined to let Citan-level damage get nulled.
Luther Lansfeld (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time) (0-2) vs Claude Kenni (Star Ocean: The Second Story)* (1-1)
Beast Rune (Suikoden II) (0-2) vs Edward 'Edge' Geraldine (Final Fantasy IV)* (1-1) - Does FF4A Edge have MT Fumas?  My HP respect for the Beast Rune parts is not really existent, so even crappy damage MT might be enough here.
Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X) (1-1) vs Miakis (Suikoden V)* (1-1) - So did Turtle Rune or whatever block ID?  Theoretically Miakis can get a very, very slow victory with some kind of magic regen setup I want to say...  if she can immune ID and get magic charges back...  which is chancy.  EDIT: Sounds like no from other comments.

Millenia (Grandia II)* (1-1) vs Lucian (Valkyrie Profile)* (2-0)
Jade (Breath of Fire) (1-1) vs Dheginsea (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn) (1-1)
Cidolfas Orlandu (Final Fantasy Tactics) (1-1) vs Arceus (Pokémon) (2-0) - Icewolf Bite -> win, unless Arceus has something amazing on turn 1.  EDIT: The amazing thing is his resistance to having his Plate broken.

Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts) (0-2) vs Alternis Dim (Bravely Default) (0-2) - Yuri2 with Yuri1 damage could win by setting up a double -> bust past Limit, but yeah, even if Yuri1 2HKOs, he still loses.  Although it's possible BD enemy AI might not let Dim select a move that would be illegal at turn start?  Dunno, if so Yuri might win, but that's still shaky and requires lowish HP respect for him.  Shame, Yuri resists the dark damage and still loses.
Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)* (2-0) vs Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)* (2-0) - Yeah, I don't respect insta-double even if Squall is taken against unjunctioned.  I also allow Limit spam (doesn't feel like a bug, seems intentional) BUT at the cost of time, which is reasonably notable.  Anyway...   Triple -> 3x Meteor and Aura -> Renzokuken should both still be deadly, but I'm not sure if *Ramza* has a good turn 1 win option.  Squall can after all equip for status resistance.  Someone want to sell me on something Ramza can throw at him?  Don't Act perhaps?
EDIT: I might be inclined to give this to Squall if Cerberus had HP-J, but without it, he might get overpressured by various Ramza setups.  Close match.

Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)* (1-1) vs Ryu (Breath of Fire IV) (1-1)
Empyrea (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (1-1) vs Tiz Arrior (Bravely Default)* (1-1) - Boom.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Checking the Battle Mechanics guide, "MIGHTY SWORD breaks the item in question 100% of the time", so presumably it'd break past even the likes of Golem.  So yeah, Arceus isn't keeping his Plate for long.

Arceus' special ability specifically makes it immune to any attempt to remove or steal its equipped plate. Never mind the fact that Pokemon is very clear about the fact that if you make an attack miss due to typing, its added effects also fail, so trying to hit a ghost with Mighty Sword works about as well to me as it would against a jumping opponent in FFT.

(Golem doesn't stop swordskills in FFT, or indeed anything that isn't a basic physical... even monster basic moves like Choco Attack go through it.)


For Ramza's turns, I assume he would try to Don't Act -> 2x Frog during the duration of the paralysis. Dunno how the fight would pan out, though, and Squall might be able to kick his MDef up a lot to beat this strategy....

[Tide]

But I'm not sure if *Ramza* has a good turn 1 win option.  Squall can after all equip for status resistance.  Someone want to sell me on something Ramza can throw at him?  Don't Act perhaps?

Squall does not have the ability to block all the lethal status that Ramza can throw at him. He can equip up to a max of 4 status defense magics. Ramza can do Sleep, Stop, Frog, Petrify, Berserk, Paralyze, Death and probably more that I'm missing. Even from the list of things he can block, there's always going to be a small hole that Ramza can nail with him, and if he decides to go for more all around coverage (so using Holy/Esuna and the like) he gains maybe 40-50% resistance. It still doesn't stop Paralyze/Frog as there are no equivalents in FF8. This is basically a case of the versatile meeting the vastly more versatile. Ramza just has way more options. Squall has some comedy options (DOOM Bro?! GF SHIELDING?!) but they don't answer his plight here.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Ultima doesn't fully cover status immunity?

Millenia (Grandia II)* (1-1) vs Lucian (Valkyrie Profile)* (2-0)- Interesting. I  think Millenia's speed just slightly fucks her up here as I don't believe SBE stacks (but...it could. I'm not sure I thought to test it). She has 22.5 seconds after SBE to get in before it wears off. The third HC goes off at 21.25 speed...but I guess she'll have slowed Lucian down enough that she'll lap him getting the SBE again. So yeah, think she wins, although not horribly cleanly.

I'm actually pretty sure it -does- stack, I SBE-locked Zera Valmar all day for lols and Heel Crush spamming because why not.

Maxim (Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals)* (1-1) vs Peach Toadstool (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)* (1-1)- Snow, it's only the enemy SMRPG Sleep that lasts through magic damage. Toadstool's version is cancelled by taking any damage, so she can't use it for this type of lockdown.

The stat topic is flat out -wrong-. SMRPG sleep doesn't get undone by magical damage on both the PC and enemy end. I used Sleep for that kind of lockdown in Super Laggy RPG, and I'm pretty sure Laggy couldn't even -change- status mechanics in the hack. I even remember talking about this to Elfboy back then, being shocked that Sleep was that good, and he was actually surprised I thought otherwise.

Also, regarding Arceus: Ice Brand is a notable drop in damage and high defenses (ESPECIALLY post-Cosmic Power spamming) make Night Sword draining suck (this is often forgotten when draining strats come into play). After the second Cosmic Power, he's probably draining less than 20% of his HP per shot. Hell, due to his special ability, he could just equip Steel Plate (resists both Ice and Normal) and drive the draining suck further home, since he can't have the plates broken. Maintenance in FFT applies to both equip break and steal, and I so would see that translating to Arceus' ability as well.

[Cmdr_King]

Ultima is 100% to all elements but not to statuses.  *checks* The first FAQ I'm looking at hasn't listed Ultima as a status defense junction at all, which matches my memories. 

[SnowFire]

Re Arceus: Okay yeah I didn't know he had Pokemon Maintenance.  That's so random, not sure why GameFreak didn't want to let people hilariously use Trick to switch around Arceus's forms mid-battle, seems like it'd be fun.  (Since I'm pretty sure when in Normal Form, Arceus's buff game is not going to outpace MP draining -> HP draining off Excalibur speed.)

Re Squall / Ramza: This is definitely a cool match but also a headache of a match, since I suspect this is one of those ones where if one side knows the other side's setup in advance, they can probably equip for a counter-setup that should beat it (although with different degrees of reliability), so you have to assume they both go in blind and randomly pick setups.  I'd also add that in general I don't respect Math Skill as being consistent at all - I'm going to assume Squall can camp at height 1 and enter the fight at level 98 and the CT doesn't line up for Ramza until turn 2-3, which makes Reflect from *Squall* more interesting...

...checking the Battle Mechanics FAQ, every 4 points of Spr reduces the chance of magical status by 1% (same with Vit for physical status), + your status defense.  (And...  I guess I can see Esuna & Holy maybe helping out here, they do hit all the statuses in the game between them, although this is real shaky as usual - kind of like Lunar Alex maybe resisting elements not in Lunar because he resists all elements in-game, but his resistance comes in separate parts.)  Anyway, Squall can get +85 Spr if he junctions Full-Life, or +95 if he wants to blow his Ultima there.  That's ~20-25% resistance above average if scaled to unjunctioned (and something less if scaled to half-junction if you scale status resistance, which maybe you don't anyway).  The Spr+20/40% abilities are on shenanigans GFs so they're out.  I think this might yet be enough to give Squall two turns, but it's not clear.  (He really wants you to let Esuna resist statuses FFT Esuna clears like Frog for another ~20% resist...  which is sorta reasonable to me, but I can see it not per above.)

...and now that I think about it, I enforce charge times for FFT, which makes lack of Math Skill hype more damning here.  It means that Squall can threaten to bust through Blade Grasp with Darkside OHKO, which makes Ramza more dependent on MP-Switch strats, but MP-Switch strats are soft to exploit Squall failing to cast Reflect or doing an Aura rush.  On the other hand...  Move-MP up will give enough MP to both cast Frog & have 1 MP left to not die the next turn, so something like MP-Switch + Move-MP Up -> spam Paralyze/Frog might well give Ramza 2 shots of it.  If Squall opens with Aura, use Dispel Magic...  although Squall can use Cerberus and sit on Auto-Haste & Spd & Spr junctions.

Okay, just thinking out loud here, but if Squall isn't explicitly countering a Ramza build, Cerberus is definitely the safest.  Auto-Haste, Spd+40% AND Spd+20%,  HP/Str/Spr/Spd junctions, and St-Atk / St-Def x4, so if Squall tanks through status it's with this.  Squall can offer a bunch of statuses to S-Atk junction attack with and he's definitely going first with this setup, and if Ramza picks wrong, Squall just smacks him with Silence/Sleep/etc. and wins.  Okay, so Ramza wants Blade Grasp vs. Cerberus not MP-Switch.  Squall opens with Triple.  Even without Magic-junction, Triple Meteor should still crush an Aegis Shield, and Reflect Mail is useless here...  so Ramza needs turn 1 status or good luck on resisting Meteors, because while I'm skeptical of FF8 speed hype, I'm not *that* skeptical vs. Auto-Haste and obscene Speed.  So I suppose this is where I go back to the DL: what else can Ramza toss at Squall in this scenario to win turn 1?  (Math Skill'd Status again for some, sure, but anything else for me who wouldn't really hype that?).  YOLO double-weapon physical status smack with Reflect Mail to stop a Squall T1 status attempt?  Some wacky Faith-ignoring status?

[Dark Holy Elf]

That's so random, not sure why GameFreak didn't want to let people hilariously use Trick to switch around Arceus's forms mid-battle, seems like it'd be fun.

GameFreak hates fun. They do the same things with Mega Evolution stones; that annoys me even more for some reason. (Probably because they accidentally and completely predictably made a few of the mega evolutions overpowered, and Trick/Knock Off would have been a neat counter to those... but nope.)


Re Ramza/Squall, YOLO doublestatus off physicals is 36% at best. Math Skill's a better bet: while it's fine to say that things don't line up to hit Squall and only Squall, Ramza can always 100% reliably hit Squall if he's willing to hit himself too, using an appropriate CT skill. Assuming Ramza is blocking paralysis anyway via Thief Hat (his best hat), that status is still in. Frog's trickier, although I suppose Ramza could always use Black Magic to get that while paralysis is under effect. However, -20% to status hit rates is probably enough to ruin Ramza here if you use a 67% threshold. (If you use 50%, Ramza still has a much better shot... I'll leave you to look up the relevant numbers and decide.) The best Ramza chance of winning may be Paralyse (both) -> Pray Faith (both) -> reapply Paralyse at ~100% odds -> Frog twice, but I'm too lazy to calc that out myself.

[DragonKnight Zero]

Cerberus does not have HP-J (or any elemental defense).  Enhanced Spirit is what will allow Squall to weather Holy or Flare.  Or Reflect or Shell.

Blade Grasp still works when charging.  Squall blows past regular evasion anyways.

I derped when suggesting MP Switch or Counter Magic.  Ramza needs Blade Grasp or he gets wrecked by ST-Atk-J, and auto Reflect to avoid status magic.  (Aegis Shield + mantle won't hold out forever)

Chirijiraden or Zodiac for Ramza turn 1?  Both can be spoiled by Shell though.  Squall has no defense against being turned into a chicken but will bury Ramza in Meteors long before that threshold.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts) (0-2) vs Alternis Dim (Bravely Default) (0-2) - Yuri2 with Yuri1 damage could win by setting up a double -> bust past Limit, but yeah, even if Yuri1 2HKOs, he still loses.  Although it's possible BD enemy AI might not let Dim select a move that would be illegal at turn start?  Dunno, if so Yuri might win, but that's still shaky and requires lowish HP respect for him.  Shame, Yuri resists the dark damage and still loses.

If Yuri1 could 2HKO Alternis with FtC, he'd win pretty flat, I think? The speed split's pretty large even under your TB interps (i.e. Yuri's seeing a 5-4 at worst) and Alternis at best 3HKOs Yuri in a vaccuum, which a For Tomorrow patches up pretty easily while still getting him ahead. Chip-chip-chip => For the Children on double. Problem is there's no scaling I could possibly fathom that'd lead Alternis1 having less than even 2.5x PC HP nor Yuri dealing even over 1.1x PC HP with FtC, unless you take the KO point threshold below 2.5x average damage. Yuri2 is a bit more interesting, but I think he still falls kinda short, since he can only reach -and barely!- OHKO-level damage with Energy Charge -and- Rage/For Everyone stacked. That'd require at least an instant quadraturn.

[Dhyerwolf]

Depending on whether you allow technical rings or not, Yuri 2 can actually nearly unload 2 PC HP in a hit (just needs a two turn setup, although in fairness those turns have quick recharge). 2060 damage to a 1023 kill point.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Oh, true, the effect of Technical Rings on buffs is quadratic. I throw them out for simplicity these days, though some days I ponder allowing them -as long- as they equip one of the ring-slowing equips.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Labyrinthia Wordsworth (Wild ARMs XF)* (2-0) vs Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)*  (1-1): Probably. Don't see Distortion stopping DBs or Labyrinthia as tanky enough to wall the whole string. Unless someone wants to argue me otherwise...
Luther Lansfeld (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time) (0-2) vs Claude C. Kenny (Star Ocean: The Second Story)* (1-1): Luther durability not very good.
Beast Rune (Suikoden II) (0-2) vs Edward 'Edge' Geraldine (Final Fantasy IV)* (1-1): Strong NE magic against someone who lacks MT? Probably works. Might have some status which slips through Edge's immunities too, but I'm too lazy to check.
Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X) (1-1) vs Miakis (Suikoden V)* (1-1): S5 has no ID immunity, just a general status resistance (which in S3 didn't cover ID, sooo). I don't see Miakis as resistant to zombie either so yeah this gets pretty ugly pretty fast.

Millenia (Grandia II)* (1-1) vs Lucian (Valkyrie Profile)* (2-0): Trusting Dhyer to understand G2 speed shenanigans the best.
Captain Crow (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (0-2) vs T260G (SaGa Frontier) (0-2): Defence-subject Low Godlike against T2. Noope.
Jade (Breath of Fire) (1-1) vs Dheginsea (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn) (1-1): Good lord.
Cidolfas Orlandu (Final Fantasy Tactics) (1-1) vs Arceus (Pokémon) (2-0): Ghost gives Arceus the push it needs to start the Cosmic Power spam. Cid could try to status it out, I suppose, but guessing Arceus will have the needed offence to get past that. Cosmic Power once to ensure Ice Brand Night Sword isn't much of an issue (assuming I see that working at all... technically Night Sword is non-elemental physical) then do what needs to be done.

Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts) (0-2) vs Alternis Dim (Bravely Default) (0-2): Pretty sure Yuri loses to regular Dark Knight...
Maxim (Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals)* (1-1) vs Peach Toadstool (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)* (1-1): Sleepy Time hype is go. I'm never sure how high I see SMRPG FP but I'm inclined to be generous to the twinks if nothing else, so yeah she easily manages.
Ghaleon (Lunar: Silver Star Story) (0-2)  vs Virginia Maxwell (Wild ARMs 3)* (1-1): Ghaleon has way too many lines of attack for Virginia to stop, especially with how bad her healing is.
Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)* (2-0) vs Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)* (2-0): I'm impressed that this is a good match by "scaled vs. unjunctioned" views, I had assumed Squall would just stomp everyone taken that way. For me, Ramza has a bit more margin for error.

Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)* (1-1) vs Ryu (Breath of Fire IV) (1-1): All the Bahamuts.
Empyrea (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) (1-1) vs Tiz Arrior (Bravely Default)* (1-1): Meteor~
Rebecca Streisand (Wild ARMs 5)* (0-2) vs Lenna Charlotte Tycoon (Final Fantasy V)* (2-0): Break spellblade prevents the need for slow chippy victories. WA5 status resistance, kinda complete garbage.
Isolde Schelling (Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis) (2-0) vs Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI) (1-1): No stopping the bunker pillar spam here.

[Dhyerwolf]

Oh, true, the effect of Technical Rings on buffs is quadratic. I throw them out for simplicity these days, though some days I ponder allowing them -as long- as they equip one of the ring-slowing equips.

Just noting that even without technical rings, Yuri 2 can definitely cross well over 1 PC HP damage (can do about 1.7 PC HP). I can't remember if Yuri was supposed to be SH 1 only here. If SH 2 is valid, then he may well take it (especially if he's not on technical, he just needs to do under half of Alternis' HP). Since I probably see Alternis around 3 PC HP, Yuri 2 would actually probably take this by avoiding the early 2HKO, getting lots of speed, doing 1.3ish to Alternis (one other big advantage of not taking technical rings...Yuri can purposefully miss an attack or two at the end if needed. Or not crit if needed).

Now looking at speed, this might even be sadder than I thought. Yuri needs FE up...but after he uses the first chain, he will double...use Energy Charge...and probably double again (He's 210% speed with everything up and Alternis is -1.5 SD. For 15% speed per SD, Yuri is 2.675% faster than Alternis with everything up. Higher SD just makes Alternis sadder). So I think Yuri 2 would win I think.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Oh right, scaling Alternis against the other twink PC setups means he is actually very much worse than Dark Knight. Doesn't the turn-draining thing still win him this battle if he gets a turn? Unless you see one of SH2's statusblockers covering it.