Final Fantasy DimensionsDecided to replay this. Considered what I wanted to do, and then decided that I'd done enough fiesta-type challenges for these games lately and that hey that solo of FF5 was pretty fun, so sure, let's try one in this game. The twins are the only cool characters anyway, so my choices for who gets to solo each path are obvious. Like most FFs, characters stay at 0 HP after battle, which makes solos more palatable (ironically the main exception to this is the only FF I have soloed twice).
Like FF5, Exp focuses and AP does not. Exp focusing is good because spoilers this game is harder than FF5 so I'll need it to not just get totally dunked on by damage. Probably gonna get dunked on by status regardless. Stay tuned!
Prologue: None of the characters from the Lux side of things will be used in the solo, so whatever, I just play this normally so it goes faster. Turns out having no jobs is pretty boring! FFD tries to make it a little better by giving Diana and Aigis some magic (and then Elgo gets a fuckton when he joins). The first two bosses aren't much, Manatoise explodes to Elgo's Blizzara and Watchbeast to his Fira.
I now gain control of the party of the party working for the Empire. In the first battle, I kill off Nacht and Sarah. The fun begins! No job system yet, and I do this part as a duo rather than a solo to level both Dusk and Alba; it also eases me into the actual challenge. Dusk starts with L2 White and Alba starts with L2 Black, so hey, skillsets!
Mount Lux: First dungeon fo the challenge. I give Dusk the Iron Sword and Alba the Whip (back-row weapon) and use those + Alba's MT magic to sweep. Patch up with Cure between fights. Once I get the Iron Bow I switch Dusk over to that so both can be in the back row (its damage isn't that much lower than the sword, and hits weakness on some enemies here). Not much to say about enemies in this dungeon; Sprinters inflict confuse which makes them more notable than the rest, but it's not as bad as it could be as my characters don't hurt themselves that badly. Bombs are also notable for being elementally neutral which makes my inner FFT fan twitch but is true to FF5.
Crystal Temple: A slight step up. Mud Golems are bulky and also confuse, Lesser Lopros is generically hard-hitting so I have to be a bit more careful. Nothing too bad though. I use status (Sleep or Mini/Toad or Slow) occasionally on tougher enemies; it's nowhere near 100% but it works more often than not. Tents restore MP (only way to do it repeatedly at this point as ethers are pricy). They also revive everyone but whatever, they can kill themselves again.
Watchbeast - Doubleacts, but to the back row his damage isn't too special. The problem is that below half HP he starts using Soul Despair, which is MT HP-1. Fortunately it's only ever used as the second move of a doubleact, so he can't score cheap kills. Still that makes wary of using my turn right before I suspect he's going to act, and MT Cure doesn't patch me up much, though typically enough to survive a double physical in the back row. So not too bad, I just need to be awake.
Jobs!
Now the real fun begins. I control Dusk's party first. Which means solo Dusk. Let's talk about how the jobs do solo:
Physical jobs: Have good HP and decent damage but no MT. They're fine if I don't need to heal mid-fight. If I do, I'm in the wrong job. Potions restore 100 which struggles to erase 1 round of enemy damage even now (and only gets worse from here), Hi-Potions are in short supply and not storebought yet. Warrior is generally the job of choice here since Counter is quite a bit better on a solo.
Summoner: Summoner has the deepest MP pool, near-best Int/Mind, and bad stats otherwise. Importantly, they have Sylph. Sylph's healing focuses, and at this point one use (which also does damage comparable to a L1 spell, competent at this point) easily fully heals me if I'm in a magical job, even Red Mage. It's much less potent on the physical jobs... though still way better than Potions or Cure. Unfortunately at that point its 12 MP cost becomes the bigger issue.
Red Mage: Offers balanced stats and a decent physical and loads of skillset, Sylph still heals fully.
Black Mage: Highest possible INT has its uses, though only once I've learned Sylph really.
I actually get L1 Red first because it's a great swiss army toolkit for encounters; it provides MT, Cure (which far outpaces potions on a mage), and the ability to kill flans. Once I get that my strategy for the first few dungeons is to go Summoner L1 Red until my MP runs low then switch to a physical job and use potions between fights.
Crystal Temple: Just a walk out in what is normally supposed to be you showing off your shiny new toys. Unfortunately in my case things are much less impressive. I run into a group of three Stunners (rats which do... exactly what it sounds like). I learn that paralysis can be reapplied and the timer resets, so once one Stunner lands it I never recover. Yikes, FF1 flashbacks.
World map by contrast is super-easy and a chance to build some AP. Near Liene there are some tougher enemies like Bugbears (who aren't so tough once they're minied, as I discover when briefly running Red + L2 White, since it's a white spell). No big. In Liene I can buy L2 white but there's no reason to, decision to do Dusk solo paying off! I do buy L2 black, of course, and a bunch of potions. Not enough, it turns out.
Mount Liene: Some NPC tells me it's dangerous, I shrug him off. I promptly wipe twice to the first random I get into. Yikes. Mud Golems and Lamias both have confuse, and the Headband which blocks it was on Alba, so I don't have it. That's bad. Otherwise it's just a matter of damage adding up and my underestimating it. Fortunately this dungeon has a Headband in it... as well as the Metal Rod (best int-booster) which Alba also made off with. Hooray! Unfortunately only Red Mage/Monk/Thief can use it... but it's okay, confuse falls off a bit after this dungeon anyway.
Castle Liene: Yellow Jelly is immune to physical which is a threat to me once I'm low on MP and running physical sets, though I keep some MP and MT Thunder 2HKOs them even off Knight MP. The other enemies here are either old or not too notable.
Hell Minion and Butch - Black Mage with Sylph. Hell Minion can use Roundhouse (damage+empty targets ATB, which is a pain) and otherwise just hits me, not too big a deal. I use Sylph if I feel in any danger and Fire/Ice/Bolt otherwise. Once he takes a few hits he calls for Butch, his pet chimera. I ignore it and keep attacking him. The choice is made extra obvious by the fact that Butch can drain around 80 HP a round from me (and I'm in the back row) which would outpace much of my damage. Sometimes he'll use a weaker MT attack instead. Ha! He also has stun, but at least there's no damage, and Hell Minion no longer attacks at this point, just gives Butch orders.
First time I played the game I killed Butch first and Hell Minion responds by going into a berserker rage and buffing himself. This time I kill him first, and he responds with "Avenge me, Butch..." and I assume Butch is gonna do something similar. Butch responds with a roar. On his next turn, he uses Flee.
I've reached the Warship now and it's definitely a step up. Updates later.
