Time for another Wild Arms XF update. (Elementalist/Geomancer/Grappler fiesta, four PC limit. Still waiting on my final job!)
2-10-A (Zortroa): Zortroa tutorial fight, not much to say about it. Grapplers toss things into range of Elementalists, boomies ensue. Being able to toss them down for bonus damage is nice.
2-10-B (Chelle and King Tarrasque III): Much more difficult. The non-boss parts of the map are easy, but I realise that my party actually matches up horribly against these two. They're both immune to throws: King Tarrasque can't even be lifted, and Chelle always takes no damage. I still throw her down off the cliff... then to my horror realise that she has stupid-high climb and just comes right back up. Fuck. Elemental damage works, of course, but they both have decent MDef, and Chelle resists all elements, while the King regens. And both hit hard enough to be very scary, since one death is a game over. I try some shenanigans with Shut Out (both are melee) but eventually realise that yeah I need to GTFO and run away, getting the alternate victory condition of escaping the battle with everyone.
2-11 (Fairylight swarm) [1 reset]: The good news is that I can throw Fairlights to the opposite cliff where they literally can't do anything. The bad news is that I'm surrounded on all sides and the Fairylights will sometimes half my MAG for three turns which sucks, there are so many enemies I get trapped healing a lot and then I trigger the reinforcements at the wrong time. On the retry I'm a bit more careful about general positioning, etc. It's not too bad.
2-12-A (desert): I've had a bit more trouble with this in the past but it's really easy here, Geomancer/Grappler abilities to control enemy position and Elementalist to pick them off. The only noteworthy thing is that I realise for the first time that the Grapplers in this battle actually have ATK Charge, the Grappler mastery skill (ATK increases each turn, resets when you attack). Unusual!
2-12-B (pale ogres): A somewhat dysfunctional battle; the pale ogres are very dangerous with their super-high attack but waste a lot of turns trying to inflict sleep. Shut Out forces this, of course, while I take them out. Their Zortroa trainers just hang out in the back being totally useless and are easy to take out later. Only bad thing is I lose about 5000 gella to traps.
2-13 (damnations): Probably the easiest map in the game. I uh take damage at least? I don't always.
2-14 (paigeols): Stupid Edna trap #2. Another easy map, the paigeols are only any good on their own leypoint and I have multiple ways to get them off. And there's even one which I throw onto their opposite leypoint for an instant kill.
2-15 (Strahl Gewehr puzzle): Dandelion Shot is forced here. The third time I've broken the fiesta rules, all in puzzle maps so far.
2-16-A (Clarissa and Alexia): Alexia as Grappler, Clarissa as blaster. Deal with the striders first, then the elementalists. Not too bad.
2-16-B (rescue) [1 reset]: The first time I go the wrong way with Felius/Levin, get tied up with the sentinels, and end up losing everyone. The High Cavs charge Clarissa/Alexia with haste and can overwhelm very easily, while being too durable to take out quickly. On the second try I go through the secutor's side instead, allowing everyone to meet up and barely survive. Tough going though! I think Clarissa masters Elementalist after this fight, so with her natural high MAG, Elementalist EQ, and MAG+25% she can be an effective caster in any class.
3-1-A (Zortroa on the river): Relatively easy Zortroa map, I don't have much to say about it. I use a lot of Geomancer/Ignore Move Cost here beacuse it's helpful.
3-1-B (Forsaken Mutants) [3 resets]: Uggh there are three with misery and three with petrify and they have high move and haste themselves and I keep getting wrecked. I eventually figure out that if I beeline to the misery ones with everyone immediately I can kill them before the petrify ones join the fight. It's still chancy because Misery just kinda sucks. And the three misery-flingers are soft so I can't really hurt them with my grapplers.
3-2-A (Clarissa/Alexia again): Not much to say here, it's a simple enough map.
3-2-B (Chelle 2 and the myconids): A tricky map for two reasons. One is the sheer number of enemies: 18, including two bosses. Myconids are kinda tricky but once they get a turn below half HP they'll start wasting all their turns on a 3-turn countdown to... I dunno what, I've never seen it before. It sounds scary so I always finish them first. Above half HP they'll instead use confuse which has potential to be scarier. Lots of Zortroa around too.
The bigger problem though is definitely the bosses. As mentioned before they spoil Grappler pretty hard. This time, though, Chelle can explode PCs (though it's sometimes possible to find positions where she can't), and you have to kill them. Tarrasque dies first as I try to keep Chelle locked down with Shut Out. I use a mix of Combination Arts (because fighters have nothing better to do than start them) and wind spells which he is slightly weak to. Once he's down I still try to keep Chelle under Shut Out as much as possible and get above her on the stairway, so I can continue to use CAs/physicals (at least my fighters can damage her). Spells work much less well here, she resists all elements. But despite losing two PCs during this she does fall.
3-3-A (Chelle 3 and the kappas): No Tarrasque to worry about! Kappas are badass, especially with their fire attack (Geomancer EQ to the rescue). They resist all elements but their defences aren't super-amazing and they can actually be tossed around, so that + CAs does the trick, meanwhile Zortroa die fast to elementalist nonsense as always. Chelle herself is the same tactics as above, and certainly easier this time.
3-3-B (Weisheit 1): Rank Sinspawn Ammes!
3-4 (Guardian Shrine outside): A simple battle with the enemies very spread out and no reinforcements. Usual tactics work. There are even cliffs to throw enemies off of.
3-5-A (Guardian Shrine inside): Somehat tricky, because the Elementalists and Sentinels hit hard (and the latter can push into pits if you're not careful) and the Grapplers can get extra turns unpredictably. Lots of enemies too. But fortunately, not as bad as it could be, because hey everyone's got an elemental weakness and I can toss melee enemies onto a couple central pillars from which they can't escape.
3-5-B (Katrina 1): The first combat stall point of the entire game, I'm pretty happy it took this long! Clarissa goes Fantastica for Feeble Mind, though still uses all her usual Elementalist swag. (I use no Fantastica abilities aside from Feeble Mind on the boss.) The demons hit reasonably hard (Secutors with decent ATK, as well as Sacred Slayer OC) but they're too spaced out to be scary.
