Hey, you guys are now where JP was at in... April? Whenever I played the game and then made a big deal about quitting then succumbed to obsession months later.
OK, after analyzing Rufus videos I think I certainly have a chance of winning, if not a chance of mastery.
So, tentative setup:
Ramza (Power BD, Armor BD), Katana damage 1.2x, Masamune
Zack (Indoor Spell, Drain Strike), Start: Aspir, Damage 1.2x, Zack's Glove
Mog (Break FEVAH!, Curaja), Power of Mako
Aeris (Protectga, Curaga), Skill use->SB gauge UP
Agrias (Dispel, Reflect), Fancy Wristwatch (weak MT heal SB)
SG/SRS
So, Agrias and Dispel/Reflect. I have a really good feeling that Agrias, especially since she's not at L80, does not have the durability to do Draw Attack+Drain Strike, although being perfectly honest that is Plan B. Dispel/Reflect is possibly a useful combo because I won't be casting any magic on Rufio or Black Panther, and Black Panther routinely hastes Rufio and himself. I'm pretty sure hasted Rufio is going to wreck my butthole pretty hard, so I need Dispel, and once I get reflect up on both of them I get the buff, which will help me immensely no matter who gets it. Really, the only characters that it doesn't help me to get it on would be... Agrias, and that's it. Everyone else helps me immensely by either making my healing more reliable or boosting my damage output. It SEEMs like a sound strategy, anyway...
though, that said, this is a strategy recommended by Kongbakpao, so I totally imagine this will blow up in my face. Still, it's just so cool that even if it doesn't work I'll be glad to spend the timebux on the off chance that it does work.
The 4-digit MT damage blasts of doom seem to all come from Mako Cannon, and he seems to either start spamming that at 50% HP or when Black Panther dies (pretty sure the former despite KBP's claim otherwise), so I'll save my Aeris heals for the last half of the fight. For SCIENCE!, and also for the chance of more hastes coming my way, I'll leave Black Panther alive until almost the very end on my first try. If it is in fact below 50%, I'll probably save my first SG until Rufio's at about 60% or so, relying on Protect, Power BD and Break FEVAH to carry me through the first phase. I'll probably also kill off Black Panther ASAP and save my second BEAVER for when I'm about to knock him into his weak phase.
Hojo, I have no reason not to try because of the absurdly low (and thus terrifying) Timebux cost. It looks like I'm gonna want to Tauntaliate for mitigation more than anything, since he seems to have two separate 4x strike attacks that deal status.
He also has no mastery reqs, meaning I can only lose like one medal or something. Terrifying.