Record Keeping Final Fantasy Record Keeper

[Clear Tranquil]

Whelp, *hugs*

Congrats Snow, Shale, and Magic~

Yeah, Snow that thing is glorious. Had an Apocalypse++Ultros run this morning with L80 Desch/Marach, my L99 Yshtola/Yuna, a Ramza, another Yuna, Lightning, and Tyro. The Tyro spammed On Defense at the start, so he was on Wall duty, Desch and Marach had their bursts, also the Marach had Dire Heal, and something that put a countdown above his head? (not sure if it was Doom or not ... but why would someone do that ), Ramza was on support with Shout, the other Yuna started off the fight with Hymn of the Fayth for high regen, and I was the main healer on Asylum and Tenets of the Fayth duty mainly, which left the other Yuna on main Soul of Spira duty, characters dropped a few times throughout the stages but guts/reraise saved us and two Yunas working in tandem is a beautiful thing as there was a point where the team needed back to back Song of Spiras to get it fully back on it's feet again and I fired off a Song of Spira after the other Yuna had used her's. Think I only had to use my Song of Spira once but yeah that was a fun fight. I think Lightning was the main offence~

For me FF8 banner is more a case of plugging some synergy gaps as it's one of my weakest realms synergy wise, something more up to date than Trabia's Light for Selphie would be nice, and a support Burst for someone not Wakka or Noel would also be nice. Yeah though not a matter of crisis if I don't get anything great anymore since Yuna USSB has me covered there (Eiko, Yuna or Selphie's were what I wanted and managed 1/3~) FF8 synergy is so awful apart from maybe Edea's Burst that most anything new would be good really I think. FF5 is also one of my weakest realms and I think there might be an event for that coming up soon too, heh I don't even have a medica there (at least I have Bartz OSB!?) So I'm trying to be spartan with my pulling even though Shantotto's coat, Prische's Burst, Edge's Burst,  Edward's harp, and Palom and Porom's Bursts are calling ~

[Cmdr_King]

Combat:

2x Garland SSB
Sephiroth SSB2
Gabranth BSB

I went ahead and fused the FF1 swords because, despite being my only FF1 synergy, eh.   Beyond that, Gabranth is a one-man Dark team now (he also has his EnDark SB and a +10 from his SSB), in addition to being able to dual-boost on this draw alone), which he'd have to be if I was going to do that anyways so the option is nice I suppose.  Lots of stuff, all technically useful, but nothing exciting.

Summoner:

Yuna BSB
Eiko USB

So uh I have a +30 Eiko.  Also my... fuck, fourth?  Healer burst.  Give me my fucking Eiko Record Dive dammit.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

I hate FF4 events so much. All battles in this set are absurdly annoying and unfun (WHY IN HELL IS BAIGAN AN ULTIMATE++?). Cagnazzo in particular I just decided to run Apoc+ solo because pug teams were brainfarting beyond all reason against him (I CAN'T PLUG ALL THE BASIC NEEDS WITH TWO CHARACTER SLOTS. IF I'M BRINGING HASTEGA, BREAKS AND WALL, SOMEBODY ELSE HAS TO BRING DISPEL, GODDAMMIT). Team went as follows:

L99 Loserface (Full Break R4, Magic Breakdown R4/Dr. Mog)
L99 Yuna (Curaja R5, Shellga R3/Battleforged)
L99 Onion Knight (Dispel R4, Wrath R5/Mako Might)
L99 Shantotto (Chain Blizzaga R4, Chain Thundaga R3/Bolt From Above)
L99 Ashe (Sudden Thunder R4, Sudden Freeze R4/Ace Striker)

RW: Raines BSB

Ugly little fight. Hitting weaknesses and Raines BSB kept offense minimally viable for most of the battle, but the damage could get seriously overwhelming at times. Fortunately, Song for Spira is seriously amazing and got me through at least three pretty hairy moments in the late stages. At the end, Yuna ran out of Curaja charges and I was at death's door with all my PCs, but Cagnazzo was nearly dead. So, I YOLO'd with Keeper's Tome to buy another turn (nobody had died, but all of them had spent their Last Stand and I had -no- healing left), Shantotto landed Ice Play after Caggy missed a Sleep and Ashe closed the deal with a Sudden Freeze. Last Stand is so freaking good, guys.

EDIT: Also managed U++ Baigan CM in the meanwhile.

L99 Kain (Lightning Dive R2, Lifesiphon R5/Whatever)
L99 Rosa (Dispel R4, Wrath R5/Battleforged)
L80 Porom (Curaja R5, Protectga R3/Dr. Mog)
L80 Palom (Chain Blizzaga R4, Meteor R3/Light of Hope)
L95 Edward (Spellbend Etude R2, Full Break R4/Mako Might)

RW: Sentinel's Grimoire

Funny little fight. Palom mostly sniped the arms, casting Magic Barrage whenever the gauge allowed. Rosa was there to Dispel and spam Wrath, which would prove crucial when she got silenced through a major Silence resist accessory. Once she recovered from Silence, she just started CHAINCASTING Holy Rain, which led to a nearly impenetrable defensive game. Chaincasting healer bursts is good stuff, yo. Kain was my offensive lynchpin in spite of Thunder being resisted (in hindsight, I should've brought P. Cecil instead, but hey, it worked). Porom healed and buffed my offensive peeps while Edward provided buffing and minor breaking. Lost two PCs to the exploding arms at the end, but I just wanted the Holy Orbs. Hilariously, ended up mastering anyway.

EDIT 2: Apropos of nothing, with the Wisdom motes gained from Cagnazzo, I full-dived Maria and Ashe, which was actually kind of a pleasant surprise. Within the next month, I should be able to finish up Papalymo's Record Dive and get started on a healer dive (I'm between Vanille, Y'shtola and Yuna, currently my top three healers. Amazing how -one- relic can bring you from the dump heap all the way to the stars).

[Shale]

Summon lucky: Hope BSB1. Okay, that's way less cool than my Combat pull. Still, I think that with my shiny new toys I can hold off on further (non-Lucky) pulls until Extreme Fest.

Also, I failed to complete D220 Yunalesca, thanks to pushing the fight off until Sunday and then spending all day out doing stuff. So much for.....whichever motes she provided.

[Shale]

Oh shit we're getting support and celerity LDs tomorrow. Celerity I'll have to look at the relic list for, but a shot at all the support BSBs? Hell yes.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Oh shit we're getting support and celerity LDs tomorrow. Celerity I'll have to look at the relic list for, but a shot at all the support BSBs? Hell yes.

Celerity's big draw is getting stuff like Vaan's BSB and Lightning's BSB2. Support... holy shit there's just no way I'm not drawing there.

[Clear Tranquil]

Fungahh! What Snow said re;  Cagnazzo and public groups. Finally had to bring both Dispel and on hand barrier striking myself, used Vanille/Yuna instead of Ysh/Yuna this time, had been trying with Ysh but, took a few tries with Vanille eventually lightbulbed on changing her ability set up to Dispel/Thundaga and set Yuna with Shellga/Curaja. Ran as host, landed with my Vanille, Yuna, Rydia, another Vanille, Tyro, and two Shantottos.  Vanille was right on point to get rid of Cagnazzo's speed up with Dispel as soon as possible every time, OK gave us the speed advantage with Vessel of Fate, Tyro walled, my Vanille, Rydia, and the two Shantottos blitzed the hell out of those barriers, the other Vanille was on Transcendent Dream duty which gave me room  to use Convalescence for Astra and even near the end Miracle Prayer for ability restore as well, thanks to Shantotto's Frightening  Lightning our lighting abilities were doing great damage even Thundaga, also the other Vanille was even able to chip in with Light Eternal at times for added offence, the Shantotto Ice Plays were especially nice, Yuna put up Shellga at the start then was main healer with Curaja and Tenets of the Fayth/Breath of the Heavens, also Song of Spira for Haste since our main party Haster OK got Stopped once, also for guts just in case, also had to poke Rydia awake once. The Rydia also used Odin for ... I'm not sure why. Been a while since Sage! Vanille was a thing but whew~

[Shale]

Support LD: 1/11, Tyro USB. Not the niche I was looking to fill, but good to have nonetheless!

Celerity LD: 4/11, Orlandeau BSB, 2x Tidus BSB, Zidane OSB. Shame it's the worst of TG Cid's relics, but other than that, nice haul.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Dropped a Leviathan Pack and 100 Mythril among both banners, since I'm not sure there'll ever be an opportunity as good as this to load up on Support BSBs. End results: Artemis Bow and Faris' Bracer dupes, Yoichi and Traitor Bow dupes, Air Knives dupe and Barret's Bracer dupe for the bad. For the good, though: landed Tidus' Apocalypse, Locke's Thief's Knife, Gordon's Heavy Lance, Nanaki's Platinum Barrette, Quina's Gold Hairpin and Irvine's Bismarck. The SSBs aren't -so- great, but the OSB and Bursts are pretty danged useful! In particular, Red's BSB fills a really nice mixed buff niche for when I don't feel like picking up Onion Knight and Tidus' OSB is my first real water-elemental SB, which I can even boost off both armor and weapon. I still wish I had more stackable breaks off the new toys, but I'll make do. I don't think I can even justify pulling on FF8 now, really.

[Magic Fanatic]

Support got me...  1/11 Minfilia SSB.
Celerity got me...  1/11 Thancred BSB.

Compared to my Combat and Summon draws, I feel a little cheated.

Also, here's a thing I'd like to ask people:

What would everyone say is the worst fight in an otherwise good realm for fights?  I mean, obviously we can throw FF4 out of the running because most of their fights are frustrating, but I suppose we can say contenders are...  Meltgemini from FF9, or Demon Wall from 12?

[Grefter]

Me IRL

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

hi greftar

[Meeplelard]

Celerity Banner: Edge BSB, and Lightning SSB2.
Support Banner: Edward BSB

Not bad all things considered; got 2 BSBs, one of which is a Magic katana which can come in handy and helps toward a Water team with Tidus' OSB, and did want a Lightning Soul Break better than Blazefire Rush, and well, I got one.  Would prefer having something to synergize a bit with En-Thunder, but at worst, it's another +Lightning Armor, so can't complain about that.


As far as the Bonus Fights go...

Not bothering with the Cid Mission because it's annoying on a NORMAL Run, and Major Orbs are getting easier to come by so less necessary.  That said...

-Crushed the Ultimate fight, I can't even remember what it was.

-Baigan had me go in with Silence Resist across the board, having to resort to Alphinaud's Book to cover him because apparently there's very few Silence resist accessories even with me having Aerith's Ribbon.  Go figure, Alphinaud STILL got silenced but I won.

-The Apocalypse Fight I had to do twice since Raines and Papalymo died in the first run and that's 4 medal loss as a result.  Went back in slightly better prepared, like giving Terra Dispel instead of damage, since she's just Wrath OSB Spamming anyway, and mastered it.

-Cagnazzo, I threw Shantotto's BSB at him, and had pretty unremarkable fights as a result.  The Apocalypse fight involved a Lightning w/ her BSB2, Ashe with Ducks Decree, and like 3 Healer Bursts.  I think there was one other source of Lightning damage but who cares, we ripped him apart.  I was actually tempted to use Shantotto's CSB at him, but realized that when Tsunami drops, the CSB is pointless, so just stuck with spamming the heck out of her Ice/Thunder command.


And with that, another boring FF4 event with stupid Ultimates done.  As far as answering Magic's question...

Demon's Wall is up there, as is Ahriman for FF12.  Don't think Meltigemini really stood out in any particular way. 

The worst is probably Bartandelus and the Havok Skytank.  FF13 is, all things considered, a pretty decent realm for Fights, but Bartandelus is always a whore, and Havok Skytank is just an annoying fight that is offensive because it relies heavily on a stupid gimmick (melee immunity) that was essentially a "mild damage loss" in-game that turns into really dumb "half the cast can't do shit" scenario, in a setting that melee immunity should not be allowed.

Other Realms I can think of are either consistently bad (FF3 and FF4) or don't really have a stand out bullshit fight.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Laguna event up! Dropped 50 Mythril on that banner, got Strange Vision and Beast Killer. Strange Vision was actually one of the top four prizes for me in this banner (MAG+MND buff is a really nice buff for mages and I also have Selphie's Dreamstage if I actually need AoE Curagas) and Beast Killer is a +10 MAG for Quistis, who still gets into my rotation every now and then due to the Burst being quite good even after all this time. No Betelgeuse or Axis Blade, but that's good enough.

[Shale]

100 gem: Dupe Exeter.

Looked over the banner and decided that even with my recent gains, there's a good enough concentration of stuff to be worth pulling. And was it ever. 3/11: Selphie USB, Irvine BSB, Quistis SSB. Yaaaaaaaay support burst yaaaaaay healing ultra.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Man, healing USBs so good, Yuna's been a lifesaver since I got it. I kinda wish I hadn't gotten a decent haul off the last pull on this banner now, since getting Irvine's BSB would be really neat (it's one of the best debuff stacking Bursts out there, second only to, like, Setzer), but after getting Burst Selphie Sticks and Beast Killer, I now have like half the banner's contents.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I can break Selphie's level cap again.

[Shale]

Yeah, I think Irvine just became a permanent fixture on my team even with his godawful weapon selection. Using Wrath to combo his BSB with his hyperbreak is going to be nuts against any boss that's not pure magic. And hey, if they are, that's what Vaan's for.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Just be careful to not use Irvine's C2 if you're running Vaan as well, since both have the same debuff flag and overwrite each other (and Vaan's has double the effectiveness). Past that, the two of 'em work beautifully, just slap Wrath+Full Break on Irvine and let Vaan handle Power Breakdown+Lifesiphon duties.

[Clear Tranquil]

Congratulations!

I got a dupe Executor and Zell's Crystal Gloves. Not sure how much that helps my FFVIII synergy. Going to post my FFVIII stuff here for reference, not counting Blitz Swords, and shared relics.

... and single pull just gave me another Beast Killer.

Squall - Twin Lance
Selphie - Trabia's Light
Quistis - Sleipner's Tail, Beast Killer (3), Quistis's Dress ... wait when did I get THIS!?
Irvine - Executor (3)
Zell - Crystal Glove
Rinoa - Party Dress
Edea - Edea's Valkyrie

Huuhh, it's actually fairly decent?, at least better than I thought it was, didn't realize I had two Bursts I don't feel quite as bad about this realm anymore, Selphie would still like something new but I'm not hurting for medicas across the board in general. Hopefully remaining stuffs will fill out more with Lucky Draws~

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

You have two Stitch in Time BSBs and a Hyper Break for FF8, you're pretty well-served for magical offense and debuffing in the realm. Your Medica being Cura-level and nothing else does kinda suck, but it's at least better than being stuck with a shared heal. I'd also recommend diving Quistis so she can actually have flexible ability setups (Black 5/White 4 is good stuff and you can have Quistis run an extra buffing slot like Proshellga or Faith, since you lack MT Boost/Faithgas on the realm. Wrath feels like a grafted slot there: while Counter Rockets isn't much in a vaccuum, Wrath-spamming that and her Burst, in conjunction with Edea, can lead to -obscene- DPS). Edea BSB is obscenely good too: she should be one of your premier mages with that. Bring her with Memento Mori to stack with her command 2 and Vessel of Fate and you should be able to consistently land six hits on her command 2.

[Grefter]

Hi snow.   I still miss talking bbe (but not the emotional violence ;()

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Emotional violence in the terms of RK was getting 11 3* before they implemented G5.

Anyhow, done with FF8 event. Selphie BSB is pretty fun, though I end up often bringing a second healer for the purposes of AoE Curagas. For the train, I brought her, Y'shtola, Papalymo, Faris and Ashe. I've realized having only two DPS characters actually doesn't -hurt- your overall performance as long as both of them are potent enough - and Papa + Ashe running their BSBs definitely qualify. This also makes Entrust setups more viable, since setting up SBs earlier = more long-term DPS. Nice stuff, really. I just wish I had Setzer's BSB so I could hand all my debuffing needs to a single person, his mitigation powers are absolutely ridiculous with that. As is, my best bet for that is Faris.

[Shale]

With Magicite looming in the future I decided to get off my ass and beat the Nightmare dungeons. Most were pretty simple given power-creep – CPU in particular is really easy to brute-force now, and Necrophobe's stat adjusting is barely more than “noticeable” with a full synergy team. Oddly the most difficult of the ones I've cleared were Neo Bahamut, where I kept falling just short of killing the orbs before he ate them, and Evrae Altana, where I'd run out of spells before he ran out of HP.

For Neo Bahamut, the solution was to only spawn one elemental orb – that way Alphinaud can kill it with his BSB, which is impossible if there's two or more because you have to finish them at the same time. For Evrae, it was a matter of remembering that Vanille's BSB exists and can be RW'd. You'd think I'd have remembered that sooner since it's my sole healing burst in JP. Oh well.

Still remaining: Launcher (need more DEF/RES ignoring abilities, and possibly to dive OK for ninja) and Valigarmanda (fuck this gimmick forever).

[Meeplelard]

FF8 Event was uneventful for me.  Got a DL Team together to take down the Multiplayer stuff so that went over pretty well.  Didn't bother with the Cid Mission yet because meh.

Lucky Draws time!

I'm both happy and pissed at the same time, and the pissed is entirely my fault to boot!

White Mage Lucky Draw: 2 Lamia Flutes, Yuna's BSB2 (Dupe) and Arbiter's Apocrypha.
This would be why I'm pissed: See those 2 Lamia Flutes? I accidentally used one to upgrade the other rather than combine them into a Lamia's Flute+.  So I still have the USB, but I just fucked myself out of my first 6+*, mrf.  Might be tempted to use my "Get out of fuck up once free" card on that.
Black Mage Lucky Draw: 2 Terra's Legacy, Bablizz Mirage (...why is this NOT a doll?), and Wizard Rod (IV)

End result, ignoring the fuck up?
+10 Attack on Tyro (...yes, that's the all the OSB means to me, SHUT UP THAT IS ALL IT DOES!)
-Ok to be fair, it's also another 6* Weapon for Alphinaud to use, should somehow I be in a situation that I can't divvy up my Blood Sword, Wizard Rod and Iridial Staff properly...somehow I don't see that happening but it's there!
An Imperil Dark which is the one thing I lacked for a Darkness team, let alone on a BSB to boot
A 6* Rod allowing me to have a strong weapon on all my DPS Mage units regardless of realm (provided at least one of them can use Swords, and between Terra's OSB, Raines' BSB, Emperor's BSB, and Ashe's BSB, I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to slot at least one mage who can use swords...)
A far superior FF9 Medica than what I was using (Cura Medica w/ Reraise to Instant Curaga Medica w/ Last Stand and Hastega? HELL YES!)
A better +Ice weapon than the FF9 Ice Staff or FF4 Ice Rod...granted, only a handful of PCs can use it effectively, to be fair, if I want Ice damage, there's a very high chance I'll be using Reynn anyway

Yeah, I'm pretty satisfied with my Lucky Draws today.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

White Lucky Draw: Fairy Flute and Wizer Rod, so Rosetta Stone and combine fodder, respectively.
Black Lucky Draw: Exdeath's Armor, Artemis Bow (II) and Zeromus Shard. Rosetta Stone, +10 MAG to Maria and a seriously cool BSB I've been coveting since release. For the cost of a full draw, I think this is a net win. It'll take me over a month to get all the MC3 lodes I need to upgrade all the PCs with endgame-worthy BSBs/OSBs/USBs, though. I'm counting already Tidus, Fang, Red XIII, Gordon, Reynn and now Golbez. First world problems!