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FF1 No Start Menu Part II
Jun. 13th, 2021 09:57 pmSo where to first after grabbing the CANOE? Castle Ordeals, easy. This gets me my first spellcasting items, including my first HEAL-casting one.
First attempt in met SORCERERs. I got away, then got destroyed by a MANCAT ambush..Second attempt I reset when I got ambushed outside the castle.
On the third attempt, I ran into ZomBULLs at first. HRM2s and attacked brought down two of the three, and CUR2s went off before the last one fell on round 2. Then a MUMMY ambush got Kung. I pressed on after because I had a feeling that was going to be the theme of this place. ZomBULLs getting Fuu too put an end to it.
I sailed through the fourth attempt, all the way to the narrow corridor where a single ZomBULL attacked. Next was two MEDUSAs which Ree went first and ran from and got me upstairs. I ran from the NITEMAREs with only Kung getting hit.
Now let's talk about itemcasts. No Start Menu means just exactly that. This does not mean I can't use weapons and armor that cast spells. I can rearrange people using the Select menu to make sure they end up in the right person's inventory - in the case, Stor's. But I cannot rearrange them, so I need to make sure I get it right the first time.
I encounted a MUMMY group after picking this up. Ran with the BBs and tried to blow them the hell up with the WMs as usual. Next was SORCERORs that I ran from, and I came to the Zeus Gauntlet chest. I had to figure out who was getting this one. In other words, figuring out my item distribution right now. Well okay I figured it out pretty fast, but I was still doing so.
I want everyone to have at least one black magic itemcast. It just so happens there's exactly four of those items in the game: Zeus Gauntlet, Thor Hammer, Mage Staff, and Black Shirt. I'm giving the first of these to Ree: in combat where I can't run and there's large groups, she'll be able to contribute with the LIT2 spell. The BBs are for now, better off with their fists. The White Mages get two of the HEAL items for a similar reason to wanting to use potions when running, and Fuu gets the third. She's going to be in the second slot most of the time, so has more reason to use it over Kung. Defense on Kung, and White Shirt on Fuu to split the evade stacking. The BBs get the LIght Axes for their own HRM2 casts. That just leaves the status ones, and I'll split them betwen the WMs.
Kung: {BM cast}, Defense, Light Axe
Fuu: {BM cast}, Heal Helmet, White Shirt, Light Axe
Ree: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Helmet, Wizard Staff
Stor: {BM cast}, Heal Staff, Bane Sword
With that out of the way, I had no more encounters on the way to the Zombie D. Despite Kung's best efforts in a 6-damage attack, it died before getting a turn. It occured to me to switch him to slot 2 before heading outside. There was just a CATMAN encounter to run from on the way to the boat.
So Ice Cave. Just like in no items, I had to row all the way there. I did so from Pravoka, as it was the nearest place. HYDRAs in the river quickly proved to be obnoxious. Thankfully the enemy set outside the Ice Cave itself is the same as south/east of Pravoka, so it was easy to find a weak enemy group and heal up in-battle before heading in.
The first trip in went okay, getting away from multiple instant-death enemies and undead without being scathed. The WIZARDs were the real problem. Ran into two groups and they nearly killed someone both times. Had to spam HEL2 and such to stay healthy. Zeus came in handy here.
Then the EYE went atrociously bad. GLANCE on Fuu (permadeath without the mercy rule!), then XXXX on Kung.
I refused to surrender, landed a MUTE, and beat the EYE to death with White Mage hands. Ha! Major suck my dick moment right there. Now, could I get out?
Nope, Frost D ambush. Dead.
Second try, I had to take a huge risk after WIZARDs heavily damaged everyone on the second fight. IMAGEs were next, and my HARMs knocked down all but one. Fuu got paralyzed, but I had to take the chance to heal. It worked. Next up was a FrGIANT and FrWOLF that nearly killed Fuu anyway, but got away.
The next time it showed up a couple encounters later, I beat the FrGIANT first, MUTEd the FrWOLF, and healed against it.
No problems after that. Learning from my previous experience, I applied the MUTE strategy against the EYE right away. That put an end to the fight on the spot. The last encounter was a FrGIANT on the floor below. I healed against GrIMPs outside and began rowing back. HYDRAs were obnoxious, but I made it over to Pravoka. Whew! Biggest hurdle in the game before the final dungeon down.
So I have the TAIL and the airship. However, I'm not going to class change right away, due to the quirk with Black Belt M.Def. There's seven spells that WW gets access to that WM does not: all level 8 spells (a long time off), EXIT (unusable under the variant), HRM4 (only relevant on LICH 2), and CUR4 (kinda painful but I can live without it for a bit). I will be class changing eventually - namely once I'm ready for the final dungeon - but for the time being, I'm holding off so Kung and Fuu can gain more magic defense.
I went for the Sea Shrine next. This would get me a Light Axe, the Mage Staff, and the CHIME to get into Mirage Tower, which gets me more goodies. It was kind of annoying, the enemies in there hit really hard. I did get in and out without incident, which is more than can be said about my first trip into the tower. Both BBs died, and then the WMs as I was trying to get out.
Speaking of, after I did that, I went for the Waterfall next. That run ended on the river on the way out. One thing I noticed, these enemies are kind of obnoxious. A lot of them could poison, and they hit hard as well. A couple attempts later I did make it in and out...forgetting the CUBE in the process, but I'll get back to that.
I managed to get T REX to show up. But the 1/64 monster didn't put up much of a fight. Eventually I realized I was missing the CUBE and went back in. The robot was right at the entrance, so I didn't have to fight the spike again.
I was swimming in gold at this point, and with the WMs having gotten lv6 spells, I picked up both I could use for both of them.
So what next? Going to grinding hell! I wanted the BBs to get to 6-hits before I started taking on the remaining fiends. But where to do so? A lot of the premier spots aren't practical for this party. Things like Blue D and EYE are too far in without EXIT access. Same for GrSHARKs in the Sea Shrine. The hall of giants is actually prety bad. MUMMYs in Astos' castle give out too little even if they're easy. The Waterfall spike is terrible without armor.
I settled on FIRE in the Volcano here. It's very easily accessible on the second floor, they hit fairly soft, and can show up in groups of 2. It was a very esoteric place to grind, but it worked well. Eventually over the course of several days, I made it to level 21.
KARY was roadkill. I healed with an AGAMA spike beforehand. Confusion, attacks, and that was it. It was over in all of two rounds.
I went for the Flying Fortress next. Not much to say about this one. I kept running from encounters while picking up the Bane Sword, second Heal Helmet, and two shirts. Healing when running from encounters became a standard at this point.
...no WarMECH? Unacceptable. I took a heavy hit because of turn order then immediately killed TIAMAT with the Bane Sword. Meh. It was just going to be a grind - either levels or crits. May as well have a gouda time!
Well, I went back in to find the robot. My first attempt failed before even getting there when an ambush killed Ree on the bridge. My second attempt..
...was going well until crits brought down Fuu and Stor. Then back to back NUCLEARs with no chance to HEL2 in-between...didn't kill Ree, but that was just dead. It seemed reasonable enough, but I decided I'd come back after I finish my grinding. I can't not kill WarMECH
So it was off to the Sea Shrine for the final fiend. There was nothing to say about this one. Things hit really hard, but there's no gimmicks. Having the full compliment of attack items on everyone made these groups easy.
The big octopus didn't manage to kill anyone. I had the WMs cast INV2 and the BBs attack, forgoing the White Shirt here. I got up six without incident, and then he died. No problem.
So my next goal is leveling. Not to reach murder level for the BBs like T-Hawk needed to for the Berserkers, but just to get the spell charges for the WMs. Probably to level 26 since that's 4 L7 charges. We'll see if I need to go farther than that.
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First attempt in met SORCERERs. I got away, then got destroyed by a MANCAT ambush..Second attempt I reset when I got ambushed outside the castle.
On the third attempt, I ran into ZomBULLs at first. HRM2s and attacked brought down two of the three, and CUR2s went off before the last one fell on round 2. Then a MUMMY ambush got Kung. I pressed on after because I had a feeling that was going to be the theme of this place. ZomBULLs getting Fuu too put an end to it.
I sailed through the fourth attempt, all the way to the narrow corridor where a single ZomBULL attacked. Next was two MEDUSAs which Ree went first and ran from and got me upstairs. I ran from the NITEMAREs with only Kung getting hit.
Now let's talk about itemcasts. No Start Menu means just exactly that. This does not mean I can't use weapons and armor that cast spells. I can rearrange people using the Select menu to make sure they end up in the right person's inventory - in the case, Stor's. But I cannot rearrange them, so I need to make sure I get it right the first time.
I encounted a MUMMY group after picking this up. Ran with the BBs and tried to blow them the hell up with the WMs as usual. Next was SORCERORs that I ran from, and I came to the Zeus Gauntlet chest. I had to figure out who was getting this one. In other words, figuring out my item distribution right now. Well okay I figured it out pretty fast, but I was still doing so.
I want everyone to have at least one black magic itemcast. It just so happens there's exactly four of those items in the game: Zeus Gauntlet, Thor Hammer, Mage Staff, and Black Shirt. I'm giving the first of these to Ree: in combat where I can't run and there's large groups, she'll be able to contribute with the LIT2 spell. The BBs are for now, better off with their fists. The White Mages get two of the HEAL items for a similar reason to wanting to use potions when running, and Fuu gets the third. She's going to be in the second slot most of the time, so has more reason to use it over Kung. Defense on Kung, and White Shirt on Fuu to split the evade stacking. The BBs get the LIght Axes for their own HRM2 casts. That just leaves the status ones, and I'll split them betwen the WMs.
Kung: {BM cast}, Defense, Light Axe
Fuu: {BM cast}, Heal Helmet, White Shirt, Light Axe
Ree: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Helmet, Wizard Staff
Stor: {BM cast}, Heal Staff, Bane Sword
With that out of the way, I had no more encounters on the way to the Zombie D. Despite Kung's best efforts in a 6-damage attack, it died before getting a turn. It occured to me to switch him to slot 2 before heading outside. There was just a CATMAN encounter to run from on the way to the boat.
So Ice Cave. Just like in no items, I had to row all the way there. I did so from Pravoka, as it was the nearest place. HYDRAs in the river quickly proved to be obnoxious. Thankfully the enemy set outside the Ice Cave itself is the same as south/east of Pravoka, so it was easy to find a weak enemy group and heal up in-battle before heading in.
The first trip in went okay, getting away from multiple instant-death enemies and undead without being scathed. The WIZARDs were the real problem. Ran into two groups and they nearly killed someone both times. Had to spam HEL2 and such to stay healthy. Zeus came in handy here.
Then the EYE went atrociously bad. GLANCE on Fuu (permadeath without the mercy rule!), then XXXX on Kung.
I refused to surrender, landed a MUTE, and beat the EYE to death with White Mage hands. Ha! Major suck my dick moment right there. Now, could I get out?
Nope, Frost D ambush. Dead.
Second try, I had to take a huge risk after WIZARDs heavily damaged everyone on the second fight. IMAGEs were next, and my HARMs knocked down all but one. Fuu got paralyzed, but I had to take the chance to heal. It worked. Next up was a FrGIANT and FrWOLF that nearly killed Fuu anyway, but got away.
The next time it showed up a couple encounters later, I beat the FrGIANT first, MUTEd the FrWOLF, and healed against it.
No problems after that. Learning from my previous experience, I applied the MUTE strategy against the EYE right away. That put an end to the fight on the spot. The last encounter was a FrGIANT on the floor below. I healed against GrIMPs outside and began rowing back. HYDRAs were obnoxious, but I made it over to Pravoka. Whew! Biggest hurdle in the game before the final dungeon down.
So I have the TAIL and the airship. However, I'm not going to class change right away, due to the quirk with Black Belt M.Def. There's seven spells that WW gets access to that WM does not: all level 8 spells (a long time off), EXIT (unusable under the variant), HRM4 (only relevant on LICH 2), and CUR4 (kinda painful but I can live without it for a bit). I will be class changing eventually - namely once I'm ready for the final dungeon - but for the time being, I'm holding off so Kung and Fuu can gain more magic defense.
I went for the Sea Shrine next. This would get me a Light Axe, the Mage Staff, and the CHIME to get into Mirage Tower, which gets me more goodies. It was kind of annoying, the enemies in there hit really hard. I did get in and out without incident, which is more than can be said about my first trip into the tower. Both BBs died, and then the WMs as I was trying to get out.
Speaking of, after I did that, I went for the Waterfall next. That run ended on the river on the way out. One thing I noticed, these enemies are kind of obnoxious. A lot of them could poison, and they hit hard as well. A couple attempts later I did make it in and out...forgetting the CUBE in the process, but I'll get back to that.
I managed to get T REX to show up. But the 1/64 monster didn't put up much of a fight. Eventually I realized I was missing the CUBE and went back in. The robot was right at the entrance, so I didn't have to fight the spike again.
I was swimming in gold at this point, and with the WMs having gotten lv6 spells, I picked up both I could use for both of them.
So what next? Going to grinding hell! I wanted the BBs to get to 6-hits before I started taking on the remaining fiends. But where to do so? A lot of the premier spots aren't practical for this party. Things like Blue D and EYE are too far in without EXIT access. Same for GrSHARKs in the Sea Shrine. The hall of giants is actually prety bad. MUMMYs in Astos' castle give out too little even if they're easy. The Waterfall spike is terrible without armor.
I settled on FIRE in the Volcano here. It's very easily accessible on the second floor, they hit fairly soft, and can show up in groups of 2. It was a very esoteric place to grind, but it worked well. Eventually over the course of several days, I made it to level 21.
KARY was roadkill. I healed with an AGAMA spike beforehand. Confusion, attacks, and that was it. It was over in all of two rounds.
I went for the Flying Fortress next. Not much to say about this one. I kept running from encounters while picking up the Bane Sword, second Heal Helmet, and two shirts. Healing when running from encounters became a standard at this point.
...no WarMECH? Unacceptable. I took a heavy hit because of turn order then immediately killed TIAMAT with the Bane Sword. Meh. It was just going to be a grind - either levels or crits. May as well have a gouda time!
Well, I went back in to find the robot. My first attempt failed before even getting there when an ambush killed Ree on the bridge. My second attempt..
...was going well until crits brought down Fuu and Stor. Then back to back NUCLEARs with no chance to HEL2 in-between...didn't kill Ree, but that was just dead. It seemed reasonable enough, but I decided I'd come back after I finish my grinding. I can't not kill WarMECH
So it was off to the Sea Shrine for the final fiend. There was nothing to say about this one. Things hit really hard, but there's no gimmicks. Having the full compliment of attack items on everyone made these groups easy.
The big octopus didn't manage to kill anyone. I had the WMs cast INV2 and the BBs attack, forgoing the White Shirt here. I got up six without incident, and then he died. No problem.
So my next goal is leveling. Not to reach murder level for the BBs like T-Hawk needed to for the Berserkers, but just to get the spell charges for the WMs. Probably to level 26 since that's 4 L7 charges. We'll see if I need to go farther than that.
Next | Index
