FFZZ 1.5 [TH/RM/WM/BM] Part I

This is a demonstration of version 1.5 of a difficulty hack of Final Fantasy 1 called FFZZ, and one that is actually well-balanced at that and not at all grossly unfair, unlike certain other hacks. It's been in the works for 7 years with various betas, etc., and this is the final release. I wrote "maybe" at the time, and it indeed turns out it was not the final version. Check it out and whatnot.

Note that all the stuff in this is only applicable to this version. 1.6 changes a bunch of things.


Part because I feel like it and partially to show things off at RB, I went with TH/RM/WM/BM. Hey, no one uses Thieves in vanilla, and this hack actually makes them good. Meanwhile, the changes to the other two fighting classes is mostly balance and equipment, whereas the mages have a lot to talk about in how they were switched up.

Naming scheme? Before coming to Realms Beyond formally, I heard of three people who were primary contributors to this. We need a fourth though, so I suppose crazy Plus C - who had embarked on a Solo, Low Level, Nudist challenge in FF5 at the time - is going to be our fourth man.


Weapons and armor aren't much to speak about at this point. But now let's look at our magic options. They've been switched considerably in this hack, and RM in particular has a lot less options - especially as a RM. The White stuff is mostly self-explanatory. I'd say LOCK (which is now white) actually works, but there's presently a bug that makes it do damage instead of its intended effect. So I guess you can say it really, really works.

Black Magic...FIRE and LIT are now multi-target. RUN! does what it says on the tin. DART is an interesting one - it does single-target damage of the Time element, and is 2.5 times as powerful as FIRE or LIT.

Right now with limited funds, the only spell I get is FIRE for Plus C. Some monster-slaughter later (made easy by the fact that said spell destroys most encounters at this point), he'd add LIT and DART to his arsenal. Sullla would get CURE, HARM, and LOCK. (T)-Hawk is, I would say trickier, but isn't really. Right now, his options are CURE, FOG, FIRE, and LIT. After class change, he can access LOCK, DART, and RUN! as well. While getting the one spell Sulla doesn't bring is tempting, FOG simply increases Absorb by 10 on a single target.


In gathering the funds for this all, everyone hits...almost level 4, and I decide to push them the rest of the way before heading out. Only thing worth talking about: Gr.IMPs now inflict Dark on their attacks. Also note that you can now buy in bulk at shops.


Garland now has AI. The most notable of which is MUTE, which forces us to press on with physical attacks. Still, with DART having done its job of doing high damage on single targets (even given his resistance to the element), this is no big deal.


Hmmm...there's something different about this, but I can't put my finger on it...


Off to Pravoka, and I don't bother stopping by Matoya's Cave along the way. For now, Sulla gets HEAL and SLEP, and Plus gets ICE. I pick up that middle spell for a very specific reason...


Even in vanilla, these guys are vulnerable. Black could've had an easier time with this spell, and much easier if not for the fact that the status is bugged in vanilla and enemies wake up on their next turn. But this hack also has said spell (which is now White magic) inflict darkness. They hit Plus pretty hard and put him to sleep, and due to their high magic defense, the black magic casters were simply chipping away, but we won out in the end.

What about our equipment and the rest of the magic? TMPR actually works in this hack, but it's RW only as far as T-Hawk is concerned. Speaking of, HEAL is now usable by RW, and though irrelevant for us, KN. MOVE cures Stun and Sleep, MUTE, CONF, and SLOW act much as you'd expect.


The seas...are highly dangeous now. PIRATES are now there, and are still pretty buffed in the magic defense deparatment. You can see here how weak LIT is on them.


And THIS...this is just dead. This is a 1/64 encounter, and this is also known as GAZER from the Sea Shrine.

This would've been a reset. But I tried using the LOCK problem to see if I stood a chance...and I did. The deal with it is - the creator was experimenting with making it a damaging spell, but decided against it. He changed the potency back, but not the effect, so now LOCK is a 125 base damage spell instead of reducing evasion by 125. Whatever, we'll run with it - since it's only partially greasing the wheels of time. I don't intend to abuse this on a regular basis. So I guess because he was the only survivor Plus C is level 8 now?


So yeah, I just hurry onto Elfland, and even with that ridiculous chunk of EXP we got, we can barely afford the stuff. For White level 3...CUR2 is obvious, but the rest are all genuinely in-contention for the other slots. HRM2 is base 40, FOG2 increases party absorb by 10, XBAR combines ALIT, AICE, and AFIR into one spell.

Black level 3, QUIK is like a self-targetted FAST, notable because RM cannot get FAST before class change anymore. HOLD inflicts STUN on all enemies. Easy call for BM, tough call for WM, tougher still for RM.

Well, I want both XBAR and FOG2. The WM gets the latter, because the RW can later get FOG3. RM surely wants FIR2. The question then becomes - CUR2 or QUIK? I decide on the latter. They can't hurt us if they're dead!


Possibly just as dangerous as those troll WATCHERs are the R.SAHAGs. They used to be worse - spamming TMP2 (which is now defunct) and overwhelming you in groups of 6. As-are, they're still kind of bad. They use SABR and FAST on themselves, and proceed to kill you unless you kill them first.


Oh well, let's go fight some tough enemies on the Penninsula of Power. May as well. The first one the game serves up are these guys. Two doses of FIR2 and a HRM2 ends them.


I can also fight these with good success. For the former, XBAR to stop the icy assault of the Ice D, and throw out FIR2 and HRM2. The latter, kill the wolves with FIR2 and throw statuses out at the FrGIANTs to cripple them. Other encounters...are not as winnable.


This venture gives me a ton of money. And levels too, I guess, so now we can look at the level 4 spells. Or what's available in Elfland anyway.


ESNA is a useful party-wide healing spell, curing them of basically all negative status that can be cured in battle. INVS is also party-wide, boosting evade by 40. HOLY is new - it's basically a HARM spell that hits anything. Missing from this shop is HEL2.

ICE2 and FAST are what you'd expect, and remember - RM can't learn the latter. Only RW. MEND is like a CUR3 spell on the caster. Not in this shop is BOMB, which is a non-elemental base 70 damage attack.

Sullla gets ESNA and HOLY, Plus gets ICE2 and FAST. As for T-Hawk...I actually decide to skip giving him FAST, since we'll have two uses of it after Sofis becomes a Ninja. Thus, I fill his level 4 spells with ICE2, MEND, and INVS. Other parties with more attackers could well consider holding out for FAST.


Now we're more than ready for Marsh Cave.


On the north route, guarding a Silver Dagger is this spiked encounter. T-Hawk puts XBAR to use to stop the spells, and we wear them down with some of our own. It goes to Sofis, for now. I retreat after this, just because, and come back in refreshed and ready for more.


The cave isn't much to talk about. I get a weapon upgrade for Sulla in this hammer, the Falchon sword (which goes to Sofis, with Plus C taking up the dagger). Before long, it's time for the WIZARDs.


Or WIZARD. And um, a SORCERER

This turns out to be more bark than bite. Sulla has to use ESNA at one point when TRANCE paralyzes everyone but him, but the WIZARD dies quickly. T-Hawk sets up to kill the SORCERER, but Sofis' attacks and Plus C's magic kills him before he can unload,


Yes, this is definitely quite different.


WHAT THE F-no!! Too different! TOO DIFFERENT!!!

That's ASTOS there, who is now capable of being a random encounter (hence the more generic name), and effectively making an early appearance. He shows up a lot more later on, but here, he has a 1/64 chance of showing up. Mercifully, you can run from him here.


Retreat back to town, healing up, and ready for him proper.


RUB got assimilated into WARP which now functions as both, but he opens with it all the same. It misses, unlike that ambush last time where it killed Sofis before we could do anything. I toss out some buffs, including a FAST on Sofis. I want to do the same with T-Hawk, but he gets killed by BOMB which does over 250 damage


But steroided Sofis is a beast, and proceeds to manhandle the DarkELF.


Stats. You can see the new Thief really shines when it comes to Hit%. Hell, Sofis has higher Strength than the T-Hawk at this point, but that can be attributed partially to luck with level-ups. He now actually can run well for us, because that bug got fixed. Speaking of fixed bugs, Intelligence now works, so Red Mage isn't nearly as good at spellcasting as the monochrome mages. What he does bring to our party is heavy armor - but not the heaviest.

And in this version, Red Mage/Wizard has been given some new perks that stop him from being worthless at the end of the game. This is a sign of a well-made hack - actually knowing when something needs to be buffed or rebalanced, rather than just going nerf-happy on everything. Archael.



With the mystic KEY comes looting, but there's really only three finds worth talking about for this party. The Mage Gauntlet is exclusive to mage classes, and has a defense rating of 4. The Bandit Helmet is exclusive to Thief and Ninja, is lightweight, and has a defense of 6. The Dream Staff is the first of many spellcasting items this hack. As a monster basher, it's terribad. It casts SLEP when used in battle, though.

A little later on into the Earth Cave, three more were around. The Sun Staff casting HARM, the Free Staff casting MOVE, and the White Staff casting CURE. Note the latter can only be targetted on yourself, so it's nowhere near as good as the Heal Staff of vanilla.


Competition for spell space in Level 5 is pretty fierce in both ends. CUR3 and HRM3 continue to be as they usually are. LIFE, in addition to its previous effects, can now be cast on undead in battle for a BP of 100! And XDTH is like XBAR, only it protects against Status, Poison, Earth, and Death. Cast both in one battle, and you're protected against everything but Time!

The good news is, one of the only two Time spells is DART. The bad news is, the other is XFER, also known as Dispel or, in this hack, VOID. Which now works and removes your resistances. So there's a small hole...that some enemy groups love ripping open and driving a semitruck through.

FIR3 is the same as usual. WARP, as mentioned before, is now itself and RUB in one neat package. BM can use it before class change. BLZD is a new one. This is a single-target ice-elemental spell with a BP of 90. QAKE does Earth damage on all enemies with a BP of 70.

T-Hawk can only get CUR3 and FIR3 out of these. The rest, save for HRM3, he can only get after class change.


The Hall of Giants is still around, and with petrifying SAURIAs accompanying them, it's not too wise to go in there haphazardly. What is there, however, is a treasure chest!


A well guarded one at that, to speak nothing of the stuff in front. Everyone else had died, leaving Plus to stand alone against this threat - or die trying. Thankfully, two bursts of FIR3 took everything out. He claimed this goodie - though unequippable by anyone in our party until class change - casts TMPR when used in-battle. He WARPed out with his last spellcharge, then made his way back using TENTs.


I didn't show it, but in Melmond, vampires were mentioned. Instead of just a lone VAMPIRE, you fight a WzVAMP, backed up by two VAMPIREs, three GARGOYLEs, and a HELLBAT. Quite a significant upgrade.

That said, this battle is over in a single round. Sofis victimizes the HELLBAT, Sullla slings a LIFE at the head honcho, and the mages burn everything else to the ground. We have our RUBY.

Next | Index

FFZZ 1.5 [TH/RM/WM/BM] Part II

So. Titan's Tunnel is no longer just a gateway, so to speak. It's now a long, winding path that you have to traverse. That right there is a "shortcut", which is actually probably more of a detour since it's lined with spiked tiles.


Heading back in, and taking a nice, lightly-guarded shortcut through on floor 3...I almost run into disaster on floor 4, but crisis averted.


Now here's a great find. Shadow Armor is a fantastic piece of equipment for Thieves and Black Belts, 25 defense and 5 weight. Together with the Bandit Helmet, it puts Sofis just two points of defense below T-Hawk. With his higher evasion, I decide to have him take point.


For Lich, I start by having T-Hawk throw up XBAR and Sullla put up XDTH. Plus hastes Sofis, who goes to work as best he can. Magic stocks were drained, so no TMPR, but I made sure to save up the important levels, and unloaded it at him.


This is why these levels (low 20s) aren't actually so absurd for this point of the game in this hack. XXXX is much how it is in vanilla. It's Death-elemental, and instantly kills anything under 300HP that doesn't resist the element. Except in this hack, it's multitarget! Don't have XDTH? Well, then you better hope you have the HP to survive it.


Plus eventually gets the kill. Beyond Lich are two treasures chests; one has some money in it, the other has this, which casts ICE.


Onto Crescent. You can't actually come here until after you give the RUBY to the Titan, otherwise one will inexplicably be blocking here too. HEL3 is what it is. Same for EXIT, only you can also cast it in battle to escape. HLY2 is a BP 40 attack, VOID actually works now and will nullify the resistances of anything not resistant to Time. For now, we can only get the H-ones. Of course, EXIT is in our future.

LIT3 and BANE are same-y to their original incarnation. FLAR is a BP 100 fire attack. Literally thanks to me (used it on Lich in an earlier beta to great abuse), it's BW only. Same for STUN, which is non-elemental and inflicts a nasty array of statuses on anything under 300HP. It's non-elemental, so if you're below 300HP, you're getting hit.

This is also where Red's options start to become more limited. He can't get anything now; after class change, he can choose between HLY2, EXIT, FLAR, and LIT3. But while we're talking about that...Ordeals is not an option. See, you actually need the CROWN to go there. It's how it's coded in the game. Under ordinary circumstances, this never pops up, since the CROWN is a mandatory item. But the LUTE was the treasure of the Marsh Cave, remember? We get the CROWN after beating KARY. So, yeah.


The going to the Volcano itself is rough. The enemies have a nasty habit of getting a surprise round, leading to several precarious spots.


As for the Volcano itself...yeah. Less lava.


And plenty of annoying, unrunnable encounters, such as this one right here - making a return from the Earth Cave because why not? If Sullla goes down, I have to make the trip across the river from hell twice again to get him back up. Ugh. Isn't there a better way?


Well, yes. Ice Cave first is more than possible, but highly not-recommended. But big deal, I say. Comparatively, you can get to the Ice Cave easily just by docking your ship at this port in the inner sea.


Only in ROMhacks can SORCERERs be a sight for sore eyes. They just die to attacks and LIT2, usually wasting turns on TRANCE instead of insta-killing you. Meanwhile, the bastards in the back are...well, bastards. Resistant to all elements but Time, they buff up with FAST and throw some annoying attacks your way, including the petrifying GLANCE. They were among the enemies polluting the river too. They can't surprise you, but you can't run from them.


The second room in the Ice Cave has been changed to a maze. My first attempt met an end when I tried to take a shortcut through the winding third room, meeting the (Evil)EYE on the way who proceeded to tear me a new one. That's one of the few complaints I have about this hack. Almost all of the shortcuts you see are in reality spiked deathtraps.


Though I just plow through for now and ignore the side-diversions, I do take the time to pick up the goodies that are along the way. The Magic Shield is a shield for the Mage classes, and the Axis Shield, while we'll only be able to use it after class change, is quite good. Both resist Fire and Ice.

Against the EYE proper, I throw down XDTH and proceed to blast him with everything I have. T-Hawk snuffs it, but the others manage to take it down.


There's no need to loop back though - WARP takes us right out of the pit. A second casting to dodge a spike with 2 SAURIAs and 6 FrWOLFs, then it's just a merry trek to the exit stairs. Second try, not so bad.

With the Airship comes access to the northern continents, and Level 7 and 8 spells. I only pick up CUR4 and HEL3 for the time being. Due to the shops being scattered about, no pictures of them now


Into the Volcano...this Rain Staff casts FOG2 when used in battle. Very, very useful for many parties.


Red Ds guard some of the nicer treasures as in vanilla, though other things are around. They die extremely quickly to BLZD. The good news about this trek is that I survive up till the boss. The bad news is, I run short on potions, so I have to head directly to KARY and plan a second trip.


KARY retains her vulnerability to status-elemental attacks in this hack, though she's simply vulnerable instead of weak to it. I forgo clever plans of this nature and simply defeat her with steroid-enhanced violence

The CROWN is the primary reward for this, but there's also a Zeus Gauntlet in the four chests behind her.


On the way to Ordeals...wipe!! These are M.SLIMES, which take a cue from Dragon Quest. Unlike Dragon Quest though, these things prefer to sit around, pump themselves up, and kill you. They do have a low morale though and so would run in-theory, and pay out 10000XP apiece


Ordeals itself is much, much more nasty than vanilla. Most of the threats in the latter are instant kills. Most of the threats in this hack are unrunnable and dangerous encounters. Instead of the Zombie Dragons, you have to go through four fights at the end. The first of these isn't worth talking about. The second is the EvilEYE and its GHOSTs again. This is followed by a Red D and Ice D


And finally, what are now called the Death Ds. A pair of FIR3s and a HLY2 put this one to rest.


We're all grown up, now. The most notable thing about our class change is that Sofis can now equip a SIlver Axe we had in our inventory, which has a sick 30 Attack. Axes in this hack generally have high power and crit rates, but low accuracy. Sofis has naturally high accuacy though, so this is simply the best weapon for him for the time being.


Back into the three midgame dungeons to clean them out. There's not much in the Ice Cave to note, except an exploit I only now noticed - that is apparently known and intentional. You can fall in the upper right hole, WARP out to stand back on it, and walk directly to the FLOATER. You can do this in vanilla too, but it's irrelevant due to WARP only being accessible after class change.


The Coward Staff casts RUN! when used as an item. Why this is not stated in the readme, when the name makes it obvious, I have no clue.


Two of the better finds in the Volcano include two ProRings, and the Red Sword. The former are still the excellent death-stopping equipment we all know and love, though now have some competition with some of the other accessories. The Red Sword is 25-strength, +25-acc, 25%-crit rate blade exclusive to the Red Mage and Wizard. It casts SLOW when used as an item.


The treasures in Ordeals are guarded by some nasty-ass spikes, but they're worth it. The Black Shield is exclusive to the Ninja and Black Wizard, and protects against status, poison, earth, fire, and death. The Light Axe is a disgustingly good weapon for this stage of the game. The third-strongest in terms of raw power, yielding only to the XCalber and Masmune. With a 40% crit rate and casting HRM2 when used as an item, its only weakness is +18 accuracy. Pretty irrelevant for Sofis


Carnage.


The caravan is now hidden in the desert, and can't be landed on to boot. On the way back, STUN proves its worth. These guys are dicks. You can't run from this encounter, but Plus C was able to weaken them, lock them down with STUN, and clean up all by himself.

Next | Index

FFZZ 1.5 [TH/RM/WM/BM] Part III

I go to the Waterfall before hitting up the sea shrine, but the going isn't easy. These guys in particular, the NITEMAREs use VOID to make your resistances worthless, and the MAGEs use WARP to kill you.


This spike guards the treasure room. That's the good news, it's easy to take down. The bad news is, a spike is in front of every other chest. I only manage to get this and the chest to the left, containing a Wizard Staff (CONF), before I have to bail. Kinda forgot to talk to the robot too. Oh well, return trip.


I dive into the Sea Shrine for a bit, but decide to head to Leifen to pick up Level 8 magic. LIF2 and FADE are here on the White Magic end. Sullla gets only the latter for now. As for Black Magic, NUKE is as you'd expect, only way nicer due to intelligence being fixed. MEGA is twice as strong as NUKE, but single-target.


There's plenty of nice loot to be had here. Note that the shrine is now more straightforward in its design, so I just keep on pressing on after reaching the upper wing. Circlet is a mage-exclusive piece of headwear. Fun fact: it used to be Red Mage exclusive, and provided the second-highest defense boost out there. There's the Opal equipment, the gaunlet which Sofis gets. The Hyper Knife is most notable for its absurd crit rate, and goes to Plus C.

I do have to make a second trip in after beating it; the only thing of note I find is the Opal Helmet. The best defensive helmet in the game, even sporting some resistances, Sofis can equip it. The Thief/Ninja really is damn good in this hack. It can equip almost everything that the Knight can post class-change, though lacks the tanky HP. It doesn't get the Excalibur, but has the Light Axe to abuse. It can't equip the Opal Armor or Dragon Armor, but gets something almost as remarkable in the ToFR.


Kraken. I buff hard and unload on the octopus. He's far more competent than in vanilla, but he still dies really easy. After taking him out, I take out the EvilEYE again in front of a spiked chest for a CUR2-casting Cure Staff, leave, and make the aforementioned revisit


On the way to pick up the CUBE, I run into these things. T Rex is one of the rarer encounters in vanilla. They're a bit more common here, have boatloads of HP, and hit like trucks. But with enough buffing, T-Hawk becomes a destroyer of worlds. None of those hits were crits, by the way. This is what TMPR/SABR would've been able to do if they worked.


So here's our stats, since it's been a while. Pretty self-explanatory. Again, note that the Ninja gets a lot of nice equipment options. Plus C has overtaken Sullla in physical fighting, though the Thor/War Hammer will be coming up soon. You can't see it in these shots, but you actually get more than 9 spell charges a level eventually. Not too helpful, but it's there.


The way to the tower and sky castle is a lot longer, now. Not to mention having some obnoxious enemy groups along the way.


Heal Helmet is nice. I give this to T-Hawk, and give Sullla his old Circlet, turfing the Zeus Gauntlet in the process.


Not too long after that, I get a weapon upgrade for Sullla in the War Hammer. So he can still toss of LIT2s on demand, Also among the items in the tower are Aegis Shield and Dragon Armor - we can't use either.


In the Sky Castle itself, we get this beauty. In vanilla, it's most notable for letting anyone one-shot Tiamat if they want. In this hack, it's most notable for it's 80% crit rate. This goes to T-Hawk, but he keeps his Defense around for healing purposes. (speaking of, I get another in here for Sullla)

I somehow forgot to take any pictures of them, but the LAMIA/AIR groups make a fine time to use items to heal up with items - just kill the former and all but one of the latter, Rain Staff/FOG up, and have everyone use their Defense/Cure Staff


More decisions to make and equipment shuffling to do. I turf T-Hawk's Axis Armor (34/16 + Fire/Ice) and give him Sullla's Opal Gauntlet (37/1 + Fire), since his Axis Shield protects against Fire/Ice anyway. The Black Shirt is BW only. It protects against Ice and Time - the only piece of equipment in the hack besides the Ribbon that protects against the latter. I can then swap Sulla's Circlet with Plus C's RIbbon to give both the full monty of status protection.


Still a nice item. No special properties, but it goes to Sullla due to the Magic Shield being effectively redundaunt. I have to make a trip out after this. And on the way back in...


Yep.


Luckily, I kick his face in. NUKE and FADE the NITEMAREs, pump it up, and blast him into oblivion.


Katana is still the Ninja's ultimate weapon. Compared to the Light Axe, it has 3 less power, but makes up with it with twice as much accuracy and 18 more crit rate. It casts HOLD instead of HRM2, mostly irrelevant at this point

Meanwhile, ADAMANT is still of some use to us, in a way. Excalibur casts HRM3 when used as an item.


Sage Staff is effectively the White Mage's ultimate weapon, despite the fact that all Wizards can use it. With 20/20/20 stats, this beats out War Hammer's 18/15/8 as a monster basher.


Last fiend hype!!


I go with the usual buff and destroy strategy. Plus C also joins in the festivities, using SABR. Tiamat gets off a CUR4, but with three powerful physical attackers assaulting the big dragon, it soon falls under the onslaught;

Next | Index

FFZZ 1.5 [TH/RM/WM/BM] Part IV

The TOFR has some nasty encounters. DARKMAREs, also known as UNICORNs, are one of the nastier random encounters out there.


The PHANTOM is accompanied by three EvilEYEs, and AURA (self-targeted CUR4) is part of its script. I blow away the underlings with FADE/NUKE before unloading on the PHANTOM. A lot tougher than before.


There's tons of good treasure in this place. This second Opal Bracelet goes to T-Hawk for now.


The fiends have new names for their second appearances. DEATH's script is probably just a tad kinder than the original, checking in with FADE instead of NUKE. What he does have is a deathstrike, so I INVS up as part of the buffing proceedures.


Yikes. First encounter on the Fire floor did this. Had to WARP out at this point.


The second Ribbon is on the Fire floor. There's a third lying around, but I never run into it. It goes to T-Hawk.


There's actually item shops and Clinics along the temple to refill, and to actually make it possible for certain parties to get through. Another sign of a well-made hack.


Ninja Armor is absolutely fantastic. Exclusive to the class of the same name, it's a lightweight 42-defense armor that protects against every element but Time. Needless to say, this is awesome and well worth getting.


Plus C joins in the fiend beatdowns with SABR. LILITH's main hook is her physical, but she occasionally throws out a STUN or MEGANUKE.


This is a well-guarded staff, protected by several spikes, including a WzSAHAG/KYZOKU group, and a PHANTOM. It's worth it, though. Chaos Staff is not only a decent weapon due to its absurd critical hit rate, but it casts STUN when used as an item. Long story short, you can stunlock an enemy with this and heal forever.


The main hook, again, is a high-powered physical that my party is able to neuter. CETUS, once known as SEAHAG, can occasionally use VORTEX - a damage-all ability, but doesn't pull it out too often.


The Masmune, in comparison with the Chaos Staff, has only one real guard, but it's a doozy. I deal with it much as I did before - FADE/NUKE the horses, buff up, and smash it. Sofis snuffs it in this encounter, but I come out on top.


SHINRYU has a nasty spell set: NUKE -> STUN -> CUR4 -> BOOM -> HLY2 -> STUN -> MEGA -> BOOM -> repeat. Still, against plan buff to the moon and break him in two, he's inferior.


This useful pickup lets us shortcut directly to Chaos' floor, after a boss rush. Which is good, because we're probably going to need it. With this retrieved, it seems as good a time as ever to retreat. Since we're on empty now.


Stats at level 50. T-Hawk gets the Masamune. I might consider giving it to Plus C, but it's probably better off this way. Note Sofis' absurd absorb, too. Ninja really does get great defensive gear, though doesn't have the HP of the Knight. Though he actually has the most HP of our group...


So before we fight Chaos, there's an island of interest in the middle of nowhere...you can fight some nasty enemy groups here. Really really nasty. And a few weird ones, like GARLAND again. But mostly nasty ones.


Like this.


Or this!! NeoMECH is the new superboss of this hack. It has 8000 HP, 125 strength, 3 hits, and a 20% crit rate. It sports 100 defense and 200 magic defense. Its abilities, used at 64%, are NUCLEAR, NUCLEAR, MEGANUKE, MEGANUKE. It's a regenerative enemy, too, so if you can't do over 800 damage a round, you're not doing a thing to him.


Nevertheless, we win out. The mages FADE/NUKE the DarkELFs to death, before unleashing the usual buffing fury on the big bad mech

.
The shortcut to CHAOS makes you go through all the bosses in order. T-Hawk doesn't get to let loose against SHINRYU, unfortunately, but we manage to take him down anyway.


So one twisty path later, it's time for CHAOS. We just-


GODDAMMIT. *sigh* So we scrap the robot as before when we fought for the Masmune.


I'd like to say I did something clever for CHAOS. But no, it was the same as most fights have been going - just power up and break his face open. CHAOS actually has a pretty interesting spell list. He opens his spells with FOG3 to boost his 100 Defense by +20. He then uses a variety of offensive spells - most of them powerful, but a STUN and HLY2 are also thrown in there. He last uses CUR4, to restore all 11000 of his HP


The final blow from T-Hawk brings an underwhelming end to this hack. This party is way too good.


So good, in fact, that why should we stop there? I saw this group, but never fought it. Let's go do that.


This was surprisingly not that bad. The buffs went up as before, but Sullla spent a lot of time healing..


Sofis didn't make it, but steroided T-Hawk cleaned house.


Let's go further. I heard that the group with 2 NeoMECHs and 6 DarkELFs has only been conquered by one other group in the history of this hack. Time to be the second.

So I was trying to do this before using the same strategy as I used when conquering one NeoMECH. However, after being massacred several times when trying, I figured out that this was the wrong strategy to employ. The DarkELFs take a while to do any significant in their attack scripts. Thusly, the first turn went to INVS buffing, which Sullla kept up for a few more after that - popping some heals as needed.


That left Plus C to NUKE the DarkELFs himself, but he died on this round due to turn order, leading Sullla to clean up with a FADE. Prior to that, he and Sofis were buffing T-Hawk harder than ever before.


The result? Their nasty physicals simply could not hit. Their MEGANUKE special hurt a lot, but it was nothing HEL4 couldn't handle.


And that's that. Get wrecked, ultra super encounter.

This hack is definitely worth a play, and don't be deceived by the easy time I had - it is legit in difficulty in some spots, depending on your group. I just so happened to make the right decisions, I suppose, including the team choice. Red Wizard became an absolute monster at the end of the hack. Offensive buffing being open in this hack really shows how the ridiculous potential that could've been in the original if the spells worked. And that's against things with high HP, mind you. If TMPR/SABR worked, anyone could do the things Solo did by himself.

Thanks for reading. Not sure if I'll play through this again, but we'll see.

Index

FFL Solo Monster

This is a variant I did in the span of one night when I couldn't sleep and had nothing better to do.


The Final Fantasy Legend is not actually a real Final Fantasy game. It simply bears the name in North America for marketing purposes. Still, it takes heavy inspiration from the series, so we'll give it a play anyway. A game from my childhood...mostly after my cart of FFL2 fell into the great abyss in my aunt's trailer and I wasn't allowed time to search for where it fell. That was frustrating to say the least...

It's about a group of adventurers who are traversing a tower and its many worlds in search of Paradise. It has some disturbingly deep for a Gameboy game and possibly unintentional philosophical themes. It's probably most fondly remembered for the final boss, the "Creator", who due to a bug, is capable of being killed with a Chainsaw. It was even referenced in the main series: the creators of FF13 made the final boss of that game vulnerable to instant death as an homage to this.

With this in mind, I'll be taking on the infamous Monster SCC. So there are three things to keep in mind here.

1) Doing this without this bug is out of the question. There's no way for even a top-tier monster to do enough damage to the Creator (he has 5000HP) before running out of moves, although there are some that would otherwise be able to do it. So we'll play through with the intention to kill God with a chainsaw at the end.
2) Due to the weird meat system, it's entirely possible to become the second-highest tier of monster as early as the first world. While I will be eating meat strategically, I won't be doing this, since I'd just crush the game otherwise and be one monster for the whole game. Also, refer to this guide and site. It's a useful resource.
3) I could well do this on the WSC remake...however. While the Saw bug still works (a few other bugs did get fixed, strangely enough), there is one other random change that makes me want to avoid it for a monster SCC, especially one with the above restriction. Maybe for a full party of monsters, though.


So name? Well, we're going to kill God with a chainsaw, so let's name him Jedidiah "Jed" Sawyer, also known as Leatherface, anatagonist of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.


The objective of the first world is to gather a Sword, a Shield, and Armor from three kings and place them on a statue. Through messing around with meat, Jed eventually becomes a Ghoul before taking on King Sword.


Ghoul is not the monster to take him on with.

So in FFL, monsters can have weaknesses to elements, and weapons can have elements. If an elemental weapon hits a monster's weakness - the King Sword of which has all elements - they can take a Critical Hit and die instantly.


With this staring Jed down, I instead have him go for a Werewolf, who not only has oWEAPON to be more resistant to his physical blows, but no weaknesses and a strong attack. With this, it doesn't take long to cinch the victory.

The Shield is accessible after this, and just consists of avoiding walking into guards and beating a treacherous Steward. Simple.


Recommended first path for anyone with Humans and Mutants in their party is the Armor first, where you need to take on a Bandit threatening the King's love. A P(oison)-Frog, he has a special technique where contact poisons you, but it's no deal at all.


The Black Turtle of the North, Gen-Bu is the boss of this world. The Ssu-Ling of Chinese Mythology serve as this game's four fiends. He has three attacks: the physical TUSK, the magical GAS, and defensive SHELL.


The Gecko I was using was good, but not good enough. By eating a Zombie to become a Red Bone followed by a Wererat, I'm able to upgrade to a Rhino. This is able to break through his 250 HP easily.

It's possible to beat him with less, but whatever.


This gets you the Sphere to open the first door leading into the Tower, which has a ton of dangerous monsters. By far the worst are the Slimes, whose MELT not only deals a ton of damage, but also heals them. In the first picture, you see me experimenting with it. While a great monster type, it's too weak at this point.


This game can really fly by if you know what you're doing. The caves of the oceanic World 2 are annoying. I use a Hornet for a bit going in, then through a series of meat, become a Gazer. The Eye monsters' BEAM are great, defense-piercing attacks...


But the monster I eventually bump Jed into becoming is the Amoeba. It sports ACID, a weakish attack that hits all enemies, but more importantly, MELT. Because of the limited uses of these moves, I'm forced to run from most encounters. Not that they're worth anything for a monster, anyway...


I employ it against the next boss, Sei-Ryu. Who actually proves problematic.

Now, Sei-Ryu actually has meat to drop. For a solo monster who isn't abusing leveling, however, this isn't much help. You basically need MELT and/or oPARA to survive, which means either this, a Slime, or an Undead creature. In the first two cases, you become Garlic, which is decent, but not a very good monster comparatively. In the second case, you become a Siren, which is probably weaker than anything that could beat Sei-Ryu on its own. So I don't sweat it.


Eventually, I'm able to get through all the his paralyzing STRICT attacks and get the victory. One short quest later, and it's off to World 3. Medusa monsters prove annoying and make me reload a few times with their petrifying gaze.


And in World 3, you can buy Elixirs in packs of 3. Now, the move usage issue is no longer an issue...well, I can't afford them now, but shortly thereafter am able to stock up.


To advance, you need to beat up some Mosquito guardsmen at a pub to become a guard yourself. They can use DRINK, which is just like MELT. So I mess around and become a Gunfish, to try to take them all out as soon as possible with the group-target SQUIRT. But I only face two, so it's not really that big of a difference-maker.


I eat a Siren to become an Ice Crab along the way to the next destination, which just greets you with a short fight. It may seem like I'm skipping around a lot...but this game really isn't that long when you know what you're doing, and there isn't too much to talk about. An annoyance pops up when trying to break out of jail, however. Jed needed to kill those Imps with Ice before they killed him with Fire. Took a few tries.


A quick trip back into the Tower to feast on the splintery corpse of a Woodman, and Jed became a Chimera. Why the diversion?

Chimera has a particular attack, you see. It's called 3HEADS, attacking with its lion, dragon, and goat heads. This hits up to 3 times...with a attack multiplier of 12. Since it's also used by ASHURA, I guess they gave it this huge buff. To contrast, 4HEADS does hit that number of times, but its multiplier is only 4 - so it's weaker.


Because of this, I massacre Byak-ko in two good shots, taking out his 1000 HP easily.


More time for experimentation in the tower...I settle on a Thunder bird here. Beak ain't half-bad, and Thunder is good for group-killing.


World 4 is interesting in how the Ssu-Ling shows up right away, is invincible, and tries to kill you. After dying once, Jed makes it to the Subway tunnels, eats a Mou-Jya to become a Minotaur, takes down some Atom Ants threatening a girl named Sayaka, who makes me curse not having my friend name a companion in a SaGa2 DS playthrough after So-Cho, and moves on.


World 4 is also an awkward spot...it's entirely possible for to hit the ceiling here. And if you hit the ceiling, you can't get back down. And actually, the only way down from the monster rank B is either going to Giant or Nue, which are only monster rank A with their second-highest having target levels of C.

Question of what to become for this world? Tororo might be good for bosses, but not exactly for trash-clearing. Jed eats another Dokuro (who's very rare in the tunnel I was in) and end up becoming a Cocatrice, taking me to that magic place near the ceiling...


And after recharging my PSP and analyzing, Jed becomes an Ironman, and remains as such for the rest of the world. His FLAME and GAS attacks are great for taking down random monsters, and KICK and BASH are good for dealing with tougher enemies.


After a few fetch quests, next up is the Nuclear Power Plant dungeon. There's an Evil Eye here who you can use to level to the max, but I don't want to do that. When you try to take the Plutonium at the end, a familiar face appears.


It's Warmech, yo. Called Machine here, but they share the same name in Japanese and basically the same sprite. He has a bunch of nasty attacks, including this beauty, which is an instant kill as far as Jed is concerned.

It's really just a matter of getting lucky. Machine has no mana, so magic attacks are the way to go - both of them did around 170-180. Eventually, he skips using the nasty stuff and dies.


Random commentary: the Skyscraper has some really weird dungeon design. Creative, though not exactly what you'd expect from a tower and deadly bird roost in a post-apocalyptic world.


So how can Su-Zaku fare without his defensive force field? He's got 1500 HP. His BLIND and FLAME attacks are useless on Jed, and BEAK only does 80-ish at best. He doesn't stand much of a chance.


Just more random commentary to pad this report out. There's lots of siderooms in the Tower, leading to various worlds. In this one, you see three dead children and a man, who reports that they barely made it to the shelter, but ran out of food and water. A man's last words told via his diary, apologizing to a Ken and Yuki for leaving them, telling his daughter Akira, to look after her brothers, and praying to the Creator to watch over them. Oh, and you get a Nukebomb for no reason.

My supply of Elixirs depicted there made my run through the tower fairly leisurely. I could blow up stuff if possible, run if not, and heal up to full after every encounter.


Still having stayed an Ironman for a bit, Jed eventually finds a nice floating eyeball on the way up that he digs into to become a Gummy. As previously discussed, Slime monsters are among the best in the game, held in check only by MELT's limited uses.


Just in time, too. Oh yes, talk to the man in the hat, or after an event, you'll won't be able to advance. It can be a source of confusion for veterans of the game.


Ashura is no joke. The only way for a monster to keep up with this kind of damage is by healing through and dealing heavy damage in return. Even so, it takes a good series of attacks to get through here, with him messing with GAZE and BLIND instead of murdering me. Even with MELT healing/dealing 250~ damage a turn, I just can't keep up with these monsterous hits.

This is where using the GB version over the WSC version is better for this challenge. MELT and DRINK both got hit with the nerf stick in that version, and no longer absorb HP. Similar draining moves don't work on Ashura due to his being undead for no good reason.


Now to climb the Tower a second time, though it's a much more straightforward version consisting of escalator rides.


Just like in FF1, the four fiends show up again to cause you havoc. None of them but Su-Zaku can get by Gummy Jed's constant healing, and even then just barely and not always. Though I have to run from just about every random fight.


Once they are all dead, Jed doors out. And one Redbull later, and he gets into his chainsaw-wielding form. No monster above this level carries SAW, hence our unusual way of going through this game without reaching the maximum level. There's another one as well - the Beetle, but it's strictly inferior for our challenge.


Then Jed needs to go all the way back up the Tower to meet his maker. Some people theorize that this version of the tower is its true form. Not as bad as it seems, due to the escalators and low encounter rate.


So what's up with this glitch, anyway, you ask? Well, how SAW is supposed to work is that it compares your attack to the enemy's defense, and if it's higher, you instantly kill the enemy if it connects. But the programmers got it backwards. So Creator with his 200 Defense, is prime bait for this attack. Unless you're a juiced up human (in which case you can probably murder him easily anyway), take a chainsaw to God and he's going down.


This fitting final boss death animation, brought to you with ANIMATRONICS!!

So yeah. That's about it for this shortish report. This was a nice way to kill a night, not to mention my sleep schedule. More Final Fantasy Legend games in the future? Definitely. But for now...



Index