What video games are you playing now?

[Wonder Happiny]

DS: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of Darkness.
GBA: Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective and Pokemon Emerald.

 

[Ino-Chan]

GCN: Custom Robo. It's a good game, dispite the reviews.
DS: Diamond.

 

[taitofan]

NES: Mother/Earthbound Zero
Playstation: Star Ocean 2 (Undub version)
DS: Magical Starsign

Focusing on SO2 (Claude's scenario) though.

 

[System Error]

On the DS, I am currently playing Final Fantasy IV DS. If you've read my post in the other topic, you'll know my thoughts on it. In short, it does not fuck around.

PSP, I'm playing through Final Fantasy I. That game has more remakes than anything else, but this does seem pretty definitive. I just started (it was either this or Patapon, and I decided on this to keep in the RPG style), and this time, I decided on a different approach. Four Black Mages. And I'll be recording my progress here.

Initial Stuff: So yeah, I start, and because I don't look at initial equipment, I waste some money on 4 Clothes. No worries though, as I'm not the type of person who worries about stuff like that. I got these spells right away.

Burner: Fire
Mr.Frz: Fire
Zapman: Fire
Nuke!!: Fire, Thunder

Those are the names of my troops. Uncreative names, except maybe Mr.Frz. That's subjective, though, and I've certainly seen worse names for customly namable RPG characters. Then I did the castle thing, then started burning everything I saw. A Goblin Guard went and threw off their synced levels when it surprised me and killed Burner, but it doesn't really matter to me. Other than that, it went quite well. There's a disturbing lack of enemies that are not named Goblins so far, though. I mean, come on, I want to burn some Horses all ready! Most battles just consist of Goblins who die in one spell. If there are five of them, I just knife the last one.

Burner: Fire, Sleep, Thunder
Mr.Frz: Fire, Sleep, Thunder
Zapman: Fire, Focus, Thunder
Nuke!!: Fire, Thunder, Focus

Knocking Garland Down and Saving The Princess, Because That's Cliche and We Must Have Cliche: So I head on over to the Chaos Shrine when I'm at Level 4 and have some Potions. Pretty sweet effects here, with fog and a flashlight effect. Here, I find new enemies, but they all get burned.

I give a Leather Cap in a chest to Burner, since he'll be getting hit the most. Anyway, some time later, I'm ready for Garland, so I go talk to him and he asks if I have what it takes to cross swords with him. I don't have swords, though. But 5 Fires works fine. He only gets a single hit in.

The princess wakes up surrounded by four guys with pointy hats and glowing eyes, and she acts as if it's a perfectly normal thing. I mean, if I woke up one day surrounded by guys dressed like that, I'd freak the fuck out. Also, dialogue she wants their cocks (what does Black Mage dick look like anyway? On second thought, I don't want to know.)


Pirates: The trip to Provoka or whatever was uneventful. A little rough though, with low defense. But I fought different enemies, so hey! The Pirates didn't put up much of a fight, as usual. I just cast Sleep, killed everyone still awake, and picked off the survivors.

One thing about playing through with more than one of the same character is that you notice the randomized growth rates. Here are my stats so far (all Level 8).

Obviously, Zapman makes for the better leader now, because he has higher HP and Stamina. So I gave him the Leather Cap, along with fresh new Leather Gloves, and moved him up. Burner will make for a good recepiant of Temper (even though it's early on, and that could change, and it's just one point right now).

The Peninsula of Power(leveling): The initial goal here was to earn 4000 Gil quickly. It took only two fights, but many resets. Then I went to Elfheim and got Fira for all my mages. Not much can survive a casting of that, and those that do have to deal with three more castings. I tried to level around there, but found that was getting too slow, so I returned to the Peninsula and started killing stuff. Even the monsters there don't stand much of a chance against my mages. I got to Level 19, got Copper Bracelets, and various spells before deciding to move on...


And considering those guys didn't stand much of a chance...: The monsters in the Marsh Cave were FUCKED before I even went in there. Nice effects in here, too, with glowing fog that was probably intended to look as if it's poisonous. Of course, it isn't, but still.

Every normal enemy that was not named Gray Ooze or Bloodbones died in a single Fira. The former I just used Thundara on instead. The latter just went down to the next Fira, no problem. Then came the Piscodemons. I forgot they weren't resistant to Thunder and used Blizzara by mistake. They still died without too much of a hitch, though they could've done major damage. The cool part about this was his castle had fog surrounding it at first, but when I killed him, it turned bright, which I thought was a nice touch.

Then it was time for Boss #2: Astos the Dark Elf! The battle went like this: He used Death, it failed, and then he ate 4 Blizzaras and died. Yadda yadda yadda, and I get the Mystic Key.


Well, let's get Lootin'! So I went around unlocking doors with the Mystic Key. Nothing in my way put up much of a fight. Of course, I couldn't use all of what I found, but that's what the "sell" feature is for.

The Dwarf Cave has a weird effect of dust appearing on the screen every few seconds. I thought I was seeing things at first.

So my stats now (all at Level 21)...

So Nuke!!'s really getting the short end of the stick right now. Hopefully that'll change.

EARTH!: So I took the ship and did some events. Then I went to Melmond and got myself Firaga! With this, the only thing in my way was my MP count, but I remidied that with Ethers.

The first trip through the Cavern of Earth was easy enough. Everything died quite easily, with Fira on the weaker ones and Firaga on the more stubborn ones (and Thundara on Piscodemons). The Vampire died in two Firagas. So after getting lost for a while, I got the Ruby and went out to get the rod. I healed with a Cabin then went back in.

Lich was about the only threat in the cave. He used Blizzara on my mages, knocking them down to the point where another one would've killed them. And...four Firagas wasn't enough. Luckily, I went before him in the next round, and killed him with the fifth.


Well, I was going to sequence break in the Ice Cave, but... The enemies on the river are a LOT harder than the ones in the Earth Cave. And considering I was Level 23 or so at the time...it was not a good sign. But hey, I'll make it eventually. So in the meantime...


Earthgift Shrine, because I'm Crazy/Bored: Suprisingly, this wasn't that bad. Most of the enemies could only hit me for a few points of damage. Maybe they changed something in the PSP release to make it more manageable, or maybe I just sucked before. Either way, the enemies here died in one Firaga or Thundaga. But a Fira or Blizzara would've done just as well, forcing me to run from some of the later fights to conserve MP. I didn't get much in the way of items that I could equip on the way, although there really is only one for Black Mages in there (Elven Cloak). On another note, the purple forest looks a LOT better in the PSP release.

Then it was time for the bosses. I chose Two-Headed Dragon, as it seemed he was the only one I'd be able to kill (I tried Cerberus at first, but then died). One cool thing about the PSP version is that in the boss battles here, the music from the games the bosses you fight are from plays! This is unlike the GBA version which just reuse the fiend music. The FF3 one is the only one I've heard so far, and if the others are anything like the awesome rock remix here, then it'll be downright incredible.

Anyway, back to the fight itself. It took some strategy to pull off, and I was killed the first few times I tried. I then did this: I started off by casting Slowga to reduce his 300+ish damage (instant death at this level) to a mere ~70 damage. Then I started buffing everyone up with Haste and Temper, all while healing with Hi-Potions whenever I was attacked. I managed to throw in a Focus just before the slaughter began. The result? I hit for 400-600 damage every time. Two-Headed Dragon didn't stand a chance. I got me a Bard's Tunic too, which ups my Mages defense from 17 to 22 (of course, I'd have to kill him three more times to get enough for everyone, but that'll come later).


Okay, now we Sequence Break: The trip to the Ice Cave was still annoying. Stupid Hydras. There were nice effects as usual when I got in, but sadly, no reflective or shimmering surfaces. There was a snowfall effect, though. Inside the Cavern of Ice (because elongated names are hip), things were variously hard, but generally easier than the river. Frost Dragons and Dark Wizards (when ambushed) were annoying as all hell. Even worse, I was running on fumes towards the end, because I forgot to sufficiently restock on Ethers and Potions after the Earthgift Shrine.

It was a rough ride. The preset Frost Dragons guarding the Ice Armor went smoothly enough. I can't use it, but I can sell it! But from that point on, it got tougher. Maybe I was just unlucky, though.

The one thing I hate about all the remakes is that while they did up the HP of the fiends and some of the bosses, everything else was kept largely untouched. This means the later bosses, who are really just preplaced encounters, are easy. Case in point: the Evil Eye. He died in a single Thundaga. Then I got the Levistone and began the trip out. Utter hell, but I made it at least! I didn't bother going for two treasure chests near the Floater that I missed. I'm not sure when they turned the holes in the Ice Cave to cracks, but either way, I seemed to have forgotten about them.


Trials: So I got my airship and took a visit to Gaia. There, I picked up Ruby Armlets, which are much better than the Silver Armlets and even the Bard Tunic that I have now. Since I had the cash, I also got a Protect Ring. Then it was off to the Castle of Ordeals. I took my ship there and docked at the river, to avoid walking so far (This also means I could've technically done it before the Ice Cave. The Gauntlets and Heal Staff inside would've come in handy)

That place was...relatively easy. I actually didn't encounter any enemies for a while in there. When I did though, most were shut down by Fira or something bigger if I felt it necessary. The Zombie Dragon went down to a single Firaga.

I took it over to Bahumut and got my class changed. Fuck yeah, I have pants now. And with that being said, I went back to Gaia and bought some more Protect Rings. I also got Teleport. At that point, I was getting tired, so I ran through the Earthgift Shrine one more time, this time, taking on Echnida at the end. He went easily enough, with a similar strategy as before, although Zapman ate it at one point from Earthquake, so I had to revive him.

So now I'm Level 32, and am more than sufficiently compensated for the volcano. Stats...

Volcano: I teleported out after getting the treasure from the second room because I was running low on MP (even with the Gauntlets taken into consideration). Other than that, it was smooth sailing through here.

Marilith actually suprised me a little - she got a redesign, looking more human-ish than her snake-like appearance from the previous remakes. Dispite all here weaknesses to statuses though, I couldn't inflict one the first time through (She's resistant to ice...or so I thought. Not anymore, at least). The second time, I used a Red Curtain that the Earthgift Shrine helpfully supplied me with, and proceeded to buff up Nuke!! with Temper and Haste, while the fastest (Zapman) was on healing duty. When I was ready, I struck...and killed her in one hit! Awesome.


Stuff that goes between Ice Cave and Sea Shrine goes here: I tried to do Hellfire Chasm, but had trouble at the bosses. I managed to take Cagnazzo down by again buffing and hoping I didn't get Tsunamied. It took around 10 tries, but I did it. The remix was again good, but too bad it wasn't a remix of the fiend's theme. That music was THE shit.

I got the bottle and got some high leveled Magic (namely, Blizzaga). I couldn't get Level 8 ones yet, so I put it off. More money making later, I had four protect rings and was ready to move out. I also did the Waterfall around this time.


YOU'VE BEEN GONE TOO LONG IN THE MIDNIGHT SEA: The Sea Shrine's enemies didn't put up much resistance. One or two Thundaras killed everything that stepped up to fight. There are also a good number of spell-casting items in here that I plan to put to good use. Everything else I sold (or equipped).

Kraken got a minor redesign, and now has an ugly stretched face. He tried to put up a fight, but was ultimately forced to get the hell off my PSP screen after I hit him with five Thundagas. He was the easiest in the original and he's the easiest now. I mean, Ink? Come on! He can do like 300~ with his physical attack, why waste time with blind when he could be hasting himself?


Beyond the Sky (that's what a robot said): To wrap up with the last fiend, I went and gave the Rosetta Stone to the guy to translate. I made a pretty penny in the Undersea Shrine, and when I got to my next destination (Lufien or something), I immediately went and got Flare for all my Wizards. Now it is all made worth it: there is something so satisfying about being able to cast Flare 40 times in a row.

After that, I went to the Waterfall and fought the fixed battle of Cockatrice and Mummy enemies repeatedly to gain massive amounts of Gil. I managed to fill up everyone's Level 8 Spell list, leaving only a few Level 7 ones untouched. I then left for Tiamat's lair.

The monsters of the Mirage Tower didn't put up much of a fight. I just stuck with Fira and the likes for the most part here, except against Blue Dragons, who I busted Firaga or Flare out for. The Sky Castle was...well, I wasn't expecting too much besides cloud-like fog there, so I wasn't too disappointed by it graphically. The monsters here were better than the ones down below, but I beat them nonethesame. I wanted to encounter Warmech when I got to the last room, but I was running short on supplies, so I just went and fought Tiamat.

He threatened that his image would be the last thing burned into my eyes, but I burned Scourge into his eyes and killed him instantly. It's a little strange that they'd have a way to instantly kill the last fiend (and easily at that - he is, in fact, weak to Scourge and Break). But failing that, I would've been more than happy to shove Flare after Flare up his ass until he dropped dead.


Going to Hell(fire Chasm): Now that I had the levels and stats to function here, beating the bosses was easy. After getting the last few spells to fill everyone's spelllist, and some Catclaws, I went off. Scarmiglione or whatever's first form could only hit me for 75 damage with a Thunder, as opposed to 260 earlier (basically instant death at that point). I was able to have everyone Saber up. The second form was tougher, though manageable. I only buffed up Mr.Frz here, because he has the highest HP. Nuke!! ate it at one point because he didn't have a Ribbon.

That would change after I beat Rubicante, though. He was considerably tougher. First, I used a Red Curtain I had convienently picked up on the trip down to reduce the damage from some of his attacks. Then I started to buff with Nuke!!, Burner, and Mr.Frz, while keeping Zapman on healing duty with X-Potions and a Healing Helm. Burner died at one point, forcing me to just use Nuke!! and Mr.Frz as attackers. I revived him with Zapman and had him instead focus on using Temper on the two that were left (with Zapman still healing). Pretty soon, Rubicante died. On another note, they drew him as a black man here. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but...

Oh, and as I mentioned, the boss music here is just a remix of the normal boss theme from Final Fantasy IV. Not the fiend battle music, inappropriately. It's good for what it is - it's kind of tense, using a lot of low-pitch and whatnot, but it's still nothing compared to what the fiend's song could've been.


Humans and Mermaids who fall in love go to Lifespring Grotto, but how do they make love?: As usual, the normal enemies in the Soul of Chaos dungeons didn't prove to be too much of a threat. I'll even go as far as to say they were less threatening than the ones in the Sky Fortress. To wit, I was ambushed by a Gloom Widow who immediately ran away because I was too high-leveled. Then there are the Black Goblins, who strike for anywhere from 0-1 damage and die at the drop of a hat.

Then I got to floor 5, and holy shit. The boss there is Gilgamesh, and the song played is a rock remix of his theme song! As for Gilgamesh himself, he was taken down by around 20 Flares, which were made all the sweeter by the music. His physical attack hurt like a bitch, though.

So I go through some more floors and get to Atomos. Definitely the most WTF boss in the series that is not a joke, and definitely one of the stranger choices. But even stranger, the FF5 boss theme played here. I thought the only reason the fiends music didn't play against them was because of Milon's first form and using only one in a set of bosses...but I was wrong. That pissed me off again, so I took it out on Atomos. At first I tried to Flarespam him like I did with Gilgamesh, but when that wasn't working, I instead had three characters heal (Healing Staff/Helmet) while the other Flared. When that character ran out of MP, I had him heal and another Flare. First try, he went down.

Then, in a state of what can only be described as having completely lost it, I continued down the Grotto. The most annoying part was the Killer Sharks, which actually did respectable damage (but were still annoying). Then there was the Dark Bahamut's Lair level. It wasn't hard, but I ended up having to fight every dragon but one, because I just couldn't find the Silver Dragons he asked me to kill. It wasn't too much of a hassle, but still. I also picked up three Zephyr Capes from killing Death Elementals, which I equipped (one of them already had a Protect Cloak from the Flying Fortress).

I tried to fight the bosses at the end, and I did have a strategy for Omega, but I just didn't have the items to pull it off. Then I remembered I could simply die and get respawned outside the cave, so that's what I did.


Forth to the Past: With my Omega and Shinryu killing temporarily on hold, I decided to go through the previous two SoC dungeons and finish off with their bosses.

First came Hellfire Chasm. Barbarcia wasn't too hard. I used a "buff one, heal with the rest" strategy against her. Then I went through the Earthgift Shrine to not only get Cerberus, but also to get some Elven Cloaks. Knowing that I'd be getting another Protect Cloak later (the difference between the two is only one point), I only got two of them before I set off to the Chaos Temple.

When I arrived, some cloaked guy ran to the back and revealed a secret door. It's the PSP version's extra dungeon, which goes alongside the ones from the GBA release. I ignored it for now and went into the Black Crystal.

I've seen a past Chaos Temple in Lifespring Grotto, but not with the effect that was here! A misty spotlight surrounds you throughout most of the temple. In addition to the fog, it gives it a dream/flashback effect. Which it kind of is. The fiend rematches went well. I just Flared them all and they went down without too much of a hassle. Except Tiamat, because I never fought him. When I got to his floor, I went straight for the Masamune. This offers nearly double the power of a Catclaw, and is downright the best weapon in the original game for anyone (except maybe Monks). It will be very handy for when I buff against bosses. With that, I Teleported out.


Whisperwind Cove: I started my descent in here in the Undead Castle, the only place with ten chests. I was going to restart there, but then decided to just go on ahead anyway. Mysidia was the area after that, where I picked up 99 of every Curtain (overkill, but meh), as well as some copies of spellcasting items. The rest wasn't much to write home about.

As usual, there's a remix of a boss theme when facing the bosses, and we again have a rock remix, this time, of the FF6 boss theme. It's awesome. Chupon could've killed me with Snort, but he failed every time with that, so I just buffed up Nuke!! (who has the second-highest strength now and is the holder of the Masamune) and let him have it.

Between B10 and B20, nothing really happened. The spirit floor was here, and with all the Black Goblins I've killed to get here, I'm suprised there weren't any here. There were Goblins and Goblin Guards though, as well as various other enemies. Even Astos and the Vampire are here, and they try to attack you. Of course, at this stage in the game, they're mere target practice (the latter moreso, considering he's a regular enemy in Mirage Tower and some areas of the past Chaos Temple). A single Flare killed them both. They didn't even damage me at all - their attacks were both blocked by my cloaks.

Orthros. I quickly put a stop to about the only thing he could do - hit a lot of times for lots of damage - with Slowra. Then I buffed everyone up and made seafood soup. With my knives.

After floor 22, I no longer encountered Black Goblins. Sometimes I saw their cousin Knocker, but other than that, they were gone. But I did see a hell of a lot of Elm Gigas, Dark Wolves, Reapers, and the like. Floor 28 was the Labyrinth floor - basically a Waterfall Cave/Marsh Cave lookalike that's just a bunch of tunnels. I just ignored the treasures here when I managed to get over to the exit right away - the only important thing was a Golden Apple, which isn't really worth it.

So I make it to floor 30, the most plotty boss floor in the Soul of Chaos dungeons. If you don't know, then it's like this. For some reason, the Phantom Train from FF6 has turned everyone in a village into zombies or stone statues, causing them immense pain, and land is rotting worse than anything Lich ever did. The game over music plays here, although in this version, low violins are used as instruments, which made me laugh for some reason. Anyway, I waltzed on up to the train and engaged him in Mortal Kombat. Fortunately, they tweaked his sprite like everything else's in this version, and he doesn't look horribly out of place. But he still looks out of place without him being in his natural environment (train tracks) or with him chasing you. And it sucks that you can't suplex it. Whatever the case though, he didn't put up much of a fight. An FAQ said he had a high attack rating, so I managed to land a Slowra on him and cast Invisra (via White Robe) too. It turned out it wouldn't matter though, as all he did was spam Acid Rain over and over again for around 150 damage each time. With my shiny new Rune Staff that Orthros generously coughed up combined with the Healing Helms and Staff I already had, it was more than enough to restore any damage it inflicted. That left Nuke!! to Saber 5 times and Haste once, followed by turning the train into scrap metal.

Floor 31 was the other town area in the Cove. It has a shop that has various goods depending on where it is positioned in the dungeon. On floors 31-39, it caries, in particular, Elven Cloak. I quickly capitalized and bought two for the wizards who didn't have one. The Volcano rooms finally showed up on Floor 35 here, which meant a breather from random encounters for a while. Although at one point, when I was TRYING to get an encounter there (on safe land, mind you), it took forever. Compare that to the ice cave levels I had to go through earlier, where I had encounters every few steps or so. The 39th floor was another Flying Fortress type floor. I went and ran around here for a while in order to fill up my Bestiary. Pretty much everything I found here I didn't have. It took a while for Mythril Golem and some Hydra type monster that has a Japanese name for some stupid reason to appear. But I succeeded soon enough.

Finally, at the bottommost floor of the cove, there's a flying castle. Death Gaze is the final opponent. He hit hard, Slowra wouldn't work, and I was running low on supplies (I had to use a Megalixir to get everyone back to full health before this), but I sure as hell didn't spend six hours and come all this way just to die to a little bitch like him. So on my second attempt, I started chugging Protect Drinks that I bought at the Caravan like there was no tommorow, healing (with my few X-Potions and Elixirs) and reviving if anyone died. I probably drank more than I should've (there's a limit to their effectiveness), too. I also drank Giant's Tonics to boost everyone's HP up to 999, and threw up Invisra with White Robe. And with that, I used a Megalixir and the onslaught began. Death Gaze often hit my Cloaks, but when he did get through, it was only for around 150 damage. You see what's coming...I could easily heal it off with Rune Staff and Healing Helm. He sometimes tried Death or Kill (or Dispel), but all to no avail. In fact, I got so comfortable, that I reduced my healers from three to one, planning to have someone else step in if things got out of hand. I was free to just sit back and Flare him to death. In retrospect, it was probably a good idea to increase the number of attackers. Death Gaze has 30000 HP, and with only one attacker doing around 500 damage a turn, it would've taken a ridiculously long time to defeat him.

After that, I triumphantly marched forward and claimed the Ultima Weapon, the other best weapon in the game except for Monks, as long as you got the HP to back it up.


Odds and Ends: After that, I mostly just went around, filling up the Bestiary out of boredom. It'll probably take some leveling to beat Omega and Shinryu (at 62 now). Probably even more for Chronopolis, the optional boss of the PSP version. Anyway, I went to the Mirage Tower to get Warmech's entry, and along the way, picked up Tyranosaur's (another rare enemy). I fought through hordes of enemies on the way - most of them dying instantly to Blizzara (cast from Black Robes). When I got to Warmech's place, I found that it was actually a decent place to level. Most fights get you around 1000 EXP, and you don't need to worry about things like Black Goblins or enemies that are stronger and yet give less EXP.

On a side-note, the PSP version's translation isn't exactly the same as the GBA one. In at least one spot (I don't really care too much to thoroughly check). In the GBA version, Warmech was called the bland-sounding and too to the point "Death Machine", but he's back to being called "Warmech" here. I always liked that name better, it just seems more tasteful. Even though he was Death Machine in the Japanese version - and he is pretty much one - direct translations aren't always the best when it comes to being tasteful (and neither is overly stylized writing like in the PSP's FFT remake for that matter). He's the original optional superboss - and one of the few regular enemies to get a stat upgrade in the remakes. I eventually encountered him, and with a pre-emptive strike at that. Four Flares later, I had shut him down.

So I went and got more...but then...well, I got fed up with the lack of mappage and not knowing where to go and...ah, let's just cut to the chase. http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/game/920240.html. I ended up embarking on a quest to map out all the Soul of Chaos dungeons. Then it crossed my mind to make them myself. Which I did. And I am. They're made on the GBA version, but like I said, the PSP version has these dungeons in the same layout too.


Mapping Completed!: So, with all the maps completed (although I haven't submitted Whisperwind's yet), it was time to finally start again! Things are MUCH easier when you're playing with power, by which I mean said maps and a list of treasures on every floor. At this point, all I really need are unique items and stat raising items. And money. So I can use them together and find out if it's worth it to seek out a floor's items. I had to return to Whisperwind. Yeah. It's fun.

No really, I just told you why it's fun.

Anyway, the only things left in the Bestiary to fill were Flood Gigas, Flare Gigas (which I stupidly forget about the last time), the two Superbosses, and Chronopolis' forms. First, I went to Whisperwind. Flood Gigas showed up easily enough, but not in the form I expected...it's a worm enemy palette swap. The Rivertown spawned early on, allowing me to pick up a Gladius for one of my Wizards, giving all of a +1 attack boost and some evasion. I got another Rune Staff out of beating Orthros again, which will come in handy.

I also picked up the Sage's Staff. The only way to get it is if the Undead Castle floor spawns on Floor 26, which it did. It's nothing too spectacular power-wise. It can cast Life when used as an item, but I've got 99 Phoenix Downs. It does, however, give an excellent boost to Intelligence (+15). The best in the game, actually, at least for a weapon. It also seems that it boosts the power of Holy, since when Burner (the holder of it) uses the Lightbringer, it does 800+ damage, and Flare only does 680+ for him. Yet Zapman (with the second-highest Int after Burner with the Sage's Staff) does a little less with Flare (670+), and only 550+ with the Lightbringer. Not to mention Holy has less power than Flare in the first place. And Mr.Frz, who has only 57 INT, does only 570 damage. The only thing I can think of Flare getting boosted from the Judgment Staff and the INT making up the rest of it. But it seems that's not the case, so now I don't know what to believe.

The Flare Gigas was stubborn in showing up, and the low encounter rate didn't help much, either. But I did succeed after around 12 minutes. I handled Death Gaze the same way as I did before. Only this time, I was stronger, and hit for around 1000-2000 every time.

After that runthrough, all that remains was Omega, Shinryuu, and Chronodia. And maybe some item collecting, but we'll deal with that later or at the same time. To speed things up, I docked the ship near Lifespring Grotto's entrance. It took a bit of walking to get the Airship back, but I got things done.

Anyway, I was aiming for Gaia Gears as I went through Lifespring Grotto to get to the superbosses. These items give the best Def boost for an armor in the game for Black Wizards. No stat boosts (like Sage's Surplice), but the best offense is a good defense! And...sometimes vice versa. So yeah, I went on down and got the Gear. The Flying Castle has to appear on a certain floor for me to get it, and a combination that makes it show up there incidently showed up right away.

Stats (all Level 71) before fighting Omega...

Mr.Frz: Former bearer of the Ultima Weapon, before I decided Nuke!! in the back row with his better Strength would work better. Mr.Frz has the highest HP of all my Wizards, and so it's only logical that I stick him in front and give him the best defenses possible.

Burner: His main purpose is to use powerful magic like Holy (via Lightbringer), seeing as how his Str. is less than subpar. I gave him the Gaia Gear that I picked up on this run through, in order to power up his defenses. They're better than a Diamond Armlet, and I do plan to get more.

Zapman: All about magical power. I might also consider trying for another Sage's Staff (keyword being might). Has the highest base Int if I'm not mistaken, so he would really benefit from one. Has the highest base Stamina, too, and good strength. Lowest HP, though.

Nuke!!: The second highest HP and highest Strength is enough to justify using the Ultima weapon on him. The only one I buff if I am to only buff one. He really picked up the slack since I last posted my stats, and is now on par with the rest of the Wizards.

And so it began. The first few rounds of the fight went like this.

Omega: Earthquake. Miss.
Wizards: Protect Drink on themselves.

Omega: Basic Laser on Mr.Frz. Gets blocked by Elven Cloak.
Wizards: Protect Drinks.

Omega: Basic Laser on Mr.Frz. Gets blocked by Elven Cloak.
Wizards: Protect Drinks.

Omega: Wave Cannon. Around 220~ to all.
Wizards: Protect Drinks.

Omega: Wave Cannon. Around 220~ to all. I was almost dead.
Wizards: Protect Drinks.

Omega: Earthquake. Miss.
Mr.Frz: Defend.
Burner & Nuke!!: Rune Staff.
Zapman: Healing Helm. Together with the above, everyone is back at full health.

Omega: Wave Cannon. Around 220~ to all.
Mr.Frz & Burner: Rune Staff
Zapman: Haste (Nuke!!)
Nuke: Temper (mistakenly - meant to use Saber)

At this point, it broke down. First, came the Giant's Tonics. Omega could hit for around 400 damage each time with the number of Protect Drinks I used. I probably could've used more, but I decided this would do. Mr.Frz, Burner, and Zapman began to heal, while Nuke buffed himself. I also used some Speed Drinks and Strength Tonics, just because I felt like it. In fact, I found Burner could easily be cut out of the picture, allowing him to Holy. When I was good and ready, I began the assault.

Nuke!! did around 3000-6000 damage a hit.

Omega didn't stand a chance.

I went through again, making sure to get another Gaia Gear. This time, I fought Shinryu. I started off against him by using a bunch of curtains, getting up NulShock, NulBlaze, NulFrost, and NulAll. I also buffed with Giant's Tonics, Invisra (White Robe), and Protect (Muramasa, which Omega helpfully dropped). I believe I used some Protect Drinks as well. And after that, I again I buffed Nuke!! up. I also managed to throw in a Focara on Shinryu before I started attacking. I hit for around 5000-9000 each time (I buffed more than I did against Omega), defeating him in short order.

I went through the Grotto one more time after that, getting another Gaia Gear. I fought Omega again at the end for another Muramasa, doubling my Protect casting ability. It will come in handy against Chronodia...who I don't ever know is like! This will be the first time I fight him, and with an unbalanced (but fun as hell) party at that.



It's Time for the Labyrinth of Time: The Labyrinth of Time is the new dungeon added for the PSP release of Final Fantasy 1. Basically, it's like this. Some guy at Squarenix has a boner for miasma, and not satisfied with FF:CC, the spin-offs of it, and as any other game that happens to have it, decides to put some in this game as well.

It's a puzzle-based dungeon where you have to do unusual tasks within a certain period of time. These range from solving puzzles to stealth-like areas to follow the path type rooms. But you're being timed. If time runs out, you start taking damage, and other bad effects may occur. You need to "sacrifice" abilities in order to get more time to do the task in. Some abilities will give more time from being sacrificed than others. For example, I could easily give up White Magic, since I don't use it aside from items, which are in a different category than the spells themselves. In other words, giving up the Magic doesn't mean you give up the ability to cast it through items.

Anyway, if you succeed in getting through a room within the timeframe, you break the Blue Seal. Fail, and the Red Seal is broken. This affects which version of Chronodia you face at the end.


First up was an area an FAQ called "Faeries' Frolic", because the game uses that token spelling. It's set in a "Modern Maze" (all areas have that kind of subset), but it's really just an Earth Cave. To start any challenge, you need to find a runestone and examine it. Time still ticks down while this happens, and irritatingly, I had trouble finding it. But I did in time. The object of this challenge is to watch a blue fairy dance, and pick it out of a group of five more fairies. If you fail, you need to try again. But I succeeded on the first try. Then I had trouble finding the exit, but fortunately, the fairy was nice enough to point me in the right direction when I talked to her.

Then was something called "Labyrinth of Darkness". Also, the FAQ writer can't spell Labyrinth. It's basically just a dark maze, in a "Medieval Dungeon" (this used the Earth Cave tileset too). You can light candles to light it up, but they'll go out after a while (most of these "timers" are based off steps). You need to get to the treasure chest to succeed. Which I did.

"Scavenger Hunt", also in Medieval Dungeon, but using the Marsh Cave tileset instead, was next. This is a simple one: you get told how many steps away the key is. You walk that many steps, and press X to dig. If it's not there, some feeble monsters might come down, but granted that or not, you'll be told how many steps away the key is where you now are. You have to keep doing that until you find it. I probably got lucky, since I found it within three or four attempts.

The guy called the next level "The Bat Cave". It has nothing to do with the caped crusader, though. It's also a Medieval Dungeon, but this one looked more Castle-like. When you start the challenge, you walk through a hall with bats. Some will be moving, and some won't be. You need to make a note of this. At the end of the hall, the weird guy asks you a question about the bats (either how many there were, how many weren't moving, or how many were presumably). He asked me the formermost, which turned out to be 16. I miscounted slightly, actually, and thought there were only 15. Good thing that wasn't a choice, or I'd be sent back to the start of the hall! Not that it'd affect me much...

The Original Chaos series was up next. I believe the first I went into was "Labyrinth of Trials". I think. It's basically like a classic puzzle. There's block puzzles, switches that open gates, and timed switches that close if you don't go by in a certain number of steps. Except switch "block" with "robot", "gates" with "force fields", and "close" with "have the rocks reappear". It's fucked up, really. And random encounters are always bothering you, even if time doesn't run out. The puzzles got annoying towards the end, but I eventually succeeded.

Sometimes, you'll randomly find a healing room between rooms, and I found one. Then came the Netherworld Crypt area, "Trick Statues". This is another block puzzle type level, except this time, I was moving and turning statues, all while preplaced enemies that moved while I moved (making things kind of choppy) attempted to attack me. Some succeeded in starting battle, but failed in it The statues also look like the enemies. The object is to push the statues that look like each other together, and make them face each other. Or rather, push the one statue towards the other one. This makes the enemies of the type disappear. Get all three kinds to win!

Labyrinth of Disasters was the last one. This is sort of like Labyrinth of Darkness. Only there are Warmechs roaming around. And more imporantly, lightning will strike every 20 steps or so. If you aren't near a lightning rod, you'll get zapped, and be forced out. Unfortunately, due to vague instructions in the FAQ, I ended up going over the time limit, and using a metric shitload of items in the process. I had no Hi-Potions and barely any Potions left by the end, and even had to use Elixirs and Megalixirs. Luckily, the Rune Staves gave some salvation. The my ass-mar effect is funky-looking, looking more LSD-ish than poisonous. You have to light a certain number of candles here. What the guide failed to say is how many you have to light (which is at least 3 of 10 if my theory is right), and also that the game doesn't tell you when you can leave - you need to try to go through the bottom part of it yourself. I wasted a whole hour on this damned level before I finally realized what I could do. On the bright side, at least all the Warmechs I fought gave a stupid, stupid, amount of EXP, getting me to around Level 80 in the process. Not that I'm complaining, of course.

Finally, the "Space in Time" awaited me! The cloaked guy from before is here, and he said the whole place was an illusion to lure those bearing power such as myself to his domain. Its true form is a blue ball. He then told me that I stand before him, the Lord of Time, and that several warriors have attempted to acquired his powers over the ages. He screws with their minds inside to weed out the weak. And then he demanded I kneel before him.

...yeah, I'd rather not.


This boss fight gets its own section: In battle, Chronodia sprouted parts of the four fiends from itself, which is weird, since they were never involved until now except having to kill them all to get here. The final boss music plays here, perhaps appropriately, because the actual itself battle was beyond insane. Chronodia is easily one of the toughest bosses I've faced in an RPG, although I'd imagine my party didn't help any. That little problem at the end of the last area might've though - I fought a weaker one because of it, and I needed every break I could get here. It has large array of spells at its disposal, ranging from instant death spells (useless with the Ribbon), multi-target elemental attacks (can be healed off with Rune Staff), and its unique spell, Seal. This stops you from using either your Attack, Magic, or Item command for three turns in battle. It won't cast it while one is already active. But arguably the worst spell it has is...Haste. This suppliments its already monsterously high Attack, allowing it to hit for over 2000 damage a hit! And remember, you can't save before it, so if you fuck up, you'll have to do the Labyrinth again...and by the way, game over here is just game over. No being dumped outside the dungeon for you.

It was an epic struggle. I tried to start off with some Curtains, but getting KO'd put a knife in that plan. I then tried to buff. That worked. Kind of. I was still taking hits badly, so I had to have Burner and Zapman on healing duty while Mr.Frz and Nuke!! attempted to do so. I got some Giant's Tonics and a few Defense Tonics down at least. However, everyone eventually died at one point, throwing off my Curtain efforts, my Muramasaed Protects, and my Invisiras. All, that is, except for Mr.Frz. He was the one Wizard who never died at any point in the fight. This would become important later on.

Anyway, I took to having Mr.Frz Defend constantly, while Burner and Zapman used the Rune Staff to heal, and Nuke!! cast Flare with a Judgment Staff. But I was still having trouble. Whenever Item was Sealed, I held my breath and defended with everyone. Fortunately, I survived those with little difficulty. But the fact still remained that Chronodia's physical attack instantly killed everyone but Mr.Frz (who, incidently, only took around 400 damage a hit). Meaning I could've probably gotten everyone some more Defense Tonics to buff them up to the point where they'd take only 800 damage a hit...in theory. I had no time for it in actuality. Meanwhile, healing after someone got KO'd was always annoying. I tried to time Megalixirs, mostly unsuccessfully, while Mr.Frz always defended. Thank God, Allah, Buddah, Zeus, Science, and any and all other deities for Elven Cloaks helping with defending from them. I at least tried to recast Invisra every now and then to make sure all the Wizards were at their best evasively.

During a phase when Item was Sealed, I realized I shouldn't be defending with the other three Wizards during those, and just had them cast Flare. Defend only reduces physical damage, and those killed them anyway. This sped up a battle that otherwise would've dragged on for a very long time. I still held my breath whenever Chronodia knocked out two of my Wizards in a row. That happened around five times, but I fortunately survived them all.

After a while of this battle, I noticed something...extremely interesting. Chronodia attempted to attack Mr.Frz. It only hit him around 3 times for around 80 damage. Was it just sheer luck? No, it happened again soonafter. Had Haste worn off? No, Burner was struck over 20 times for over 2000 damage the turn after that. Was it the drinks? No, Mr.Frz was only hit for around 400 before, and I hadn't used any drinks between that time. I then came to the realization that it was Invisra that was doing all the work.

Remember how I said Mr.Frz was the only one who didn't die at any point? And remember how I said I would recast Invisra every now and then? Well, it turns out that Invisra apparantly stacks, so all those castings of it on Mr.Frz added up, eventually to the point where Chronodia had difficulty doing damage. Upon realizing this, I knew that Chronodia's time was up. On the downside, I only have one White Robe, so I'll have to rectify that next time. But for now, it did quite nicely. During the buffing, Chronodia didn't intefere much at all, which was probably just luck. I threw some Protect Drinks with Zapman during this for good measure. Again, I'd just spam Flare whenever Item was sealed. With all this evasion, and Rune Staff healing off any of the damage it could do, I essentially had this fight in the bag (FINALLY!).

The one downside was that I never got to see it in action. For it never used Attack after I buffed. That was just bad (good?) luck, though. While I was in the middle of buffing (probably overbuffed, too), during a phase when Item was sealed, Chronodia finally gave up the ghost. Oh well. But it warned me that it could not truly be defeated after the battle.

I cleared the dungeon in 02:44:06, 33 battles fought, and the title of Cactuar. Nearly three hours. I wouldn't be surprised if an hour of that alone was the boss fight.


Before we begin again...: There's more runs to do through the Labyrinth of Time. But first, I need to get prepared for them. So I went out and restocked my supplies, and prepared to go down Whisperwind Cove again. Why? Well, I can get more White Robes there...I also made sure that Undead Castle would appear on a level where I'd be able to get another Sage's Staff. That will come in handy against Chronodia - instead of Flare, I'll be able to use powered-up Holys.

So I went and got two Sage's Staffs from two separate runthroughs. I also picked up statboosting items, as well as 99 Turbo Ethers from the Rivertown shop. I still need to go through it one more time, however. I did learn something else, too. Protect stacks, just like Invisra does. Of course, the downside of both is that they don't last after KO, whereas Protect Drink does, so I'll have to keep that in mind.

After I went and got my third, I deliberated on whether or not to continue. I decided that I would for the items, but I let Death Gaze kill me at the end, because I already had four Lightbringers, and any more would be pointless. And it was faster.

 

[$aturn¥oshi]

^That's quite a bit of text you got there...

Anyway, an update:

Wii: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (still)
PC: World of Warcraft (When is the second expansion coming out?)

 

[Super Smasher]

Wii - My Pokémon Ranch, Wii Sports (damn Golf!)

DS - Pokémon Pearl, Elite Beat Agents, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (GO FORTH AND BUY IT!!!)

GCN: The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (again), Starfox: Assault

GBA: Fire Emblem 6: Sword of Seals. Roy pwns.

 

[DCM]

Wii=Zelda:Twilight Princess

DS=Phoenix Wright;Justice for All

GBA=Final Fantasy

Xbox 360=Assasins Creed

 

[System Error]

^That's quite a bit of text you got there...

So? More than can be said about most of the posts in what is essentially a postcount++ topic anyway. Even given briefness, I'd at least post what I'm doing or where I am in the game. Then again, who am I, someone who isn't a regular here, to question that?

Anyway, I still haven't done much on Final Fantasy I PSP since the last update I made. Got caught up in the mapmaking and whatnot. I will be returning to it, however, and will document my trip through the PSP version's extra dungeon.

Gameboy Advance...the GBA remake of Final Fantasy IV. I got bored of the DS version with all the forced Gil grinding (was at Troia). I'd last left off around just after you return to the Overworld from the Underworld, trying to get a Mind Flayer summon with just one Siren. Yeah, that was a bad idea. But anyway, I smashed through the Elban Cave, although I frequently ran from the bat enemies (not that I couldn't beat them - it's just that their string of futile Vampires took forever to complete).

Then I got Edge. On the way through the Tower of Babel, when I was minding my own business, I got a Bomb Summon from some Balloons. I was most pleased. Rubicante went down without too big a hitch.

Blah blah blah, Sealed Cave sucks shit. The Demon Wall went *VERY* nicely, though. I managed to kill it before the side of it became visible. I was pretty much rushing through to get to the party change part after that, and forgot to get the Knife in the process. Maybe it was just because I hated the Sylvan Caves. I also got Ashura, but waited on Leviathan.

The moon. Nothing notable there. In the Giant, I went and stole around 50 Sirens from Searchers. I didn't have as much Phoenix Downs as I wanted to, though. The Elemental Lords: I just Shelled up and let them have it. Now, FuSoYa mentions Lunarians not being as evolved as humans, and his claiming to destroy the CPU's defense node supports this. The Attack Node is the bigger threat. As long as you're doing more than 3000 damage to the CPU per Restore casting, you're laughing. And if not...at least it can't do anything to you, either! It'll just float around like an idiot and cast Reflect on itself every now and then while you wail on it. Therefore, I made it so, and eventually took it down.

I quickly went back and did the Cave of Trials. The Fat Chocobo was on the verge of exploding at this point, so I had to sell some stuff. No problem, though. Even with weaker equipment, I made it through the cave fairly easily (Cecil/Yang/Cid/Palom/Porom). The bosses didn't put up too much that I couldn't handle. Edward's boss there was a little tougher, but I managed.

Finally, the final dungeon. I took Cecil, Kain, Edge, Palom and Porom with me there. There've been no problems so far, although some of the enemies are proving to be very, very, annoying (Dragons in particular). I'm still going through this, so...

On another note, the greatest thing to ever happen to me in a Final Fantasy game happened in the Lunasaur battle. I was fighting them with a reflcet up on Cecil, and one of them used Bad Breath. It reflected off the barrier and hit his buddy, turning him into a frog! Normally, you can't do that to them, but Bad Breath apparantly bypasses an immunity check.

The sub-bosses before the last boss were fun! Wicked Masks, which remind me of Ivan Ooze, got reflected Flares and Holy to their face. I dealt with Behomoths mostly through Palom's Flare, which did 9999 each time, reducing the number of counterattacks. The Dragons I dealt with the way I did before - attack, heal, and pray (no, not the technique - that blows). Breaths are just deadweights that take forever to kill and only use Scan (or sometimes a paralysis move as a counterattack to magic). And Minds went down to a few attacks.

Zeromus...wasn't as cool as I remember. Big Bang in particular seems very lame now. I blame graphics limitations. It wasn't too hard. Palom tossed Flares around (resulting in Flares being thrown back), the fighters attacked, and Porom healed. I almost lost it at one point, but a Megalixir saved me. It wasn't easy. But I did it! And then I did it again with Rosa, Rydia, Cid and Yang. This was harder, because he countered Bahamut with Flare, instead of Bio, as advertised, and it was weaker, not to mention Rydia's uselessly low HP. But I still had an easier time in general.

 

[$aturn¥oshi]

That wasn't a complaint, just an observation...

Wii: Smash Bros. Brawl
GCN: Twilight Princess (I seem to like this version better.)
PC: World of Warcraft

 

[Chosen of Mana]

Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, Tales of Phantasia (PSX)

 

[taitofan]

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Wii)

Currently trying to marry Shea in HM, and I just got Geno in SMRPG.

 

[Ino-Chan]

Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. God, i love this game. I can't get past the second boss and all I have is five hearts... Oh well... I'll try again, and again, and again.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Yes the one on the gamecube disk. I only have the Duku mask and I'm trying to figure out where to go.

 

[$aturn¥oshi]

Update: In addition to my previous post.

Virtual Console: Super Mario RPG: LotSS and Legend of Zelda: ALttP

 

[Ben Cousins]

Shadow The Hedgehog on the Wii (GCN game though). This game got shit reviews yet I enjoy the game. Go figure!

Was attempting to finish the Forest of Death on Naruto: ROAN but only being able to complete Gaara, Zabuza and Haku I gave up.

 

[GespenstKAF]

I have been playing my PS1 version (I don't have a hope in Hell of finding it for the SNES) of Chrono Trigger for well over 3 weeks.

I've beaten it already, but I'm trying to get all the extra stuff.

 

[Wolvorn]

Smash Bros Brawl...still

 

[Pokemon Coordinator]

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness

 

[Armads]

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
B)

 

[h1tm0nl33]

marvel ultimate alliance: gold edition

 

[Ben Cousins]

Team Fortress 2 and Half Life 2 Episode One.