FF1 No Start Menu Part III
"Grinding hell isn't real, it can't hurt you"
Grinding hell:
Needless to say, yeah, killed my motivation for a while. Due to the likes of KRAKEN, I figured my levels weren't going to be enough for the temple. Seeing someone else doing the challenge eventually motivated me to pick this one back up myself. As stated, I didn't feel the need to head to 29, but it was on the table if I needed to. Hopefully not though since this alone was suffering.
My grinding spot of choice was still FIREs in the volcano. It was simply the safest spot to do so, it simply took forever over the other options. Eventually, I hit my grinding goal and was ready to set out, after two pieces of business. The first was changing class.
The second was, of course, destroying the robot. It got an ambush because of course, but it stuck to physical attacks. On turn 1, the Masters attacked, Ree healed, and Stor used INV2. It did another physical attack during this turn, and turn 2 was much the same except with a HEL2.
On turn 3 I went for the kill, having the WWs use FADE (which I don't intend to use in the temple and bought especially for the robot). This cinched it, and the venture actually got everyone but Kung to level 27. He was only 600XP off and it had a strong HP up, so that was easy to grind out.
That meant the temple was all that remained. I was worried about Gas Ds, they in fact ended the first three runs into the temple. On the third of these I tried to anticipate by using HEL2, but the WWs moved first. On subsequent attempts, they left me alone.
It was my sixth run at the temple that got through. Besides that, one died at TIAMAT when I couldn't get WALL off in time, another died at KRAKEN when he dunked Stor.
The only interesting thing about PHANTOM is that it took two rounds to defeat, and that I somehow forgot to take a picture. Slacking, it's been over a year (I slacked so hard in fact I forgot to class change at first). The biggest thing to get down with the temple was finding things to heal against. Generally this meant things without any magic. After PHANTOM I used a FrWOLF with AICE up. Before LICH, I used a MudGOL. It was slightly annoying to defeat it after because the RockGOL had slowed my warriors. The general strategy is White Shirt/Defense up, then use the healing items.
I was a little concerned about the boneman. The WWs didn't have over 400HP, and I've seen some huge NUKEs before. Thankfully it simply wasn't an issue. Two HRM3s and a Master attack brought him down before he could move.
I used FIREs to heal before KARY. She got off a massive physical against Fuu, pictured there, and she thankfully survived the fight. I made sure to get up AFIR on the first turn and beat her down. Not a huge deal aside from that big physical scare.
One of the scarier encounters on the water floor was, believe it or not, a SeaTROLL/LOBSTER/SeaSNAKE group. I threw out all my offensive items against them, but I got some bad turn order and Ree ended up poisoned. I couldn't heal her because well, the items did kill them. Three WATERs were next; I'd healed against them at the start of the floor and did so again before KRAKEN. Thankfully they left Ree alone and I got the healing up.
The strategy against Kraken was one I'd been thinking of for a while. Three INV2s plus the Defense, stack the evade as fast as possible. It didn't work once, but the second time he only hit Kung to critical HP. Still extremely dangerous, so I had to CUR4 immediately, skipping a turn of INV2 in the process.
I was just playing through as I went and forgot some stuff because CHAOS was some shit, but I believe Kraken hit someone down again through the five stacks, necessitating an ALIT just in case. Thankfully he used INK instead. Whatever the case, Stor finished him off with a Black Shirt cast.
Against TIAMAT, I had the WWs use WALL on themselves. I was counting on the bloated magic defense of the Masters for them to survive, but on one run Kung still died and the BANE going before the WWs killed them too. On the winning run, I instead took another huge attack on turn 1
I couldn't get off a second set of WALLs because I only had two casts because I cut my grind short of getting more L8 charges. Would've been able to if I made it to 28. I prefered to save them for CHAOS, so I just got up A-spells. They kept punching away, and I eventually got the win.
A NITEMARE/EVILMAN group showed up afterward, perfect to heal against. Of course, DRINK was still useful to speed things along. Hey for all the scares, I at least had excellent encounter luck. That's probably what's most important in a temple run under variant rules.
That meant it was time to kill Chaos.
I took him to 1742 on the first series of attacks. The WWs cast WALL on the Masters. They were more important this time - they might be able to win on their own even if both WWs died to CRACK. CHAOS physically attacked Kung, no paralysis. I had Ree heal him next turn and Stor prep ARUB for protection against CRACK. Then ICE3 did way too much damage on Stor, but he didn't CRACK. 1521 HP left. LIT3 was next so I used ALIT.
But CHAOS went first with...another physical. Stor used HEL2. Fuu pulled out this whopper of an attack, but Kung only did 87. A little over halfway.
CHAOS' had yet to CRACK and his next elemental was behind that LIT3 adn a SLO2, so I just threw out HEL2s on the WWs. He was left with 664HP, and everyone else was in good shape. I used AFIR and HEL2 next turn. CHAOS did his third physical of the battle however, 144 on Fuu. She thankfully wasn't paralyzed, none of that nonsense this go around. She was a little low on HP, but CHAOS only had 481.
I aimed a CUR4 at her next turn along with a CUR2 on Stor. The SLO2 happened with CHAOS left at 333. This is getting dangerous, he's right before his on CUR4 and I have three full party heals left...
And he used it immediately at the start of the round. Stupid meatheads suddenly deciding to do little damage. They brought CHAOS to 1730HP afterward. I'd thrown out some INV2s just in case, for lack of much better to do during that round. AICE and another INV2 were my spells of choice during that round, CHAOS choosing to use FIR3. He was left with 1566HP, becuase Fuu only did 8 damage.
Stor had nothing better to do next turn, so he used the Black Shirt. Ree used HEL2 to prep for the upcoming NUKE. CHAOS used CRACK, and the Masters attacked. CHAOS was left with 1216.
Next set of attacks: Stor did 27, Fuu did 185, Kung did...5. And Ree did 29. 970 left as CHAOS used ICE2. After thatm Fuu did 263, CHAOS used FAST, the WWs used their healing items, and Kung did 82. Full health for the potential NUKE. Unfortunately, the WWs went first the next turn, also using the healing items. I anticipated it correctly, turn order just got me.
212-390-294-202 were the numbers, christ. Fuu and Kung retaliated with 100 and 97 respectively. 428HP left on CHAOS, but this is dangerous again!! The WWs had one HEL2/HEL3 left respectively and used them. Fuu did 109, Kung 101, and thankfully the WWs went before CHAOS, who used ICE3.
On the next round, Stor went first with the Black Shirt for 27 damage. Fuu attacked for 185. Kung finished it off with...5 damage, which didn't actually finish CHAOS off and in fact left him with exactly 1HP.
Fucking deserves that humiliation for letting CUR4 happen with those pathetic attacks. Take it home, Ree.
Final thoughts? Might be one of my last party-based FF1 challenges, at least ones that involve copious amounts of grinding for a party. That said, this was an interesting challenge. Settling on spellcasting gear right away was different, no shuffling stuff around allowed. It forced some creative strategies at times, like actual use of DRINK and MUTE. Offense was no problem, and I didn't really feel the sting of not having an offensive mage/FAST. Meanwhile, double HEAL spells definitely helped a lot in those tight places.
Now if you want to take a look at the other person doing the same challenge who inspired me to pick this pack up, go here to see CranberryPSO's run. They're using a Red Mage instead of the second White Mage, so there's differences to be had in how they play out!
As always, thanks for reading.
Index
Grinding hell:
Needless to say, yeah, killed my motivation for a while. Due to the likes of KRAKEN, I figured my levels weren't going to be enough for the temple. Seeing someone else doing the challenge eventually motivated me to pick this one back up myself. As stated, I didn't feel the need to head to 29, but it was on the table if I needed to. Hopefully not though since this alone was suffering.
My grinding spot of choice was still FIREs in the volcano. It was simply the safest spot to do so, it simply took forever over the other options. Eventually, I hit my grinding goal and was ready to set out, after two pieces of business. The first was changing class.
The second was, of course, destroying the robot. It got an ambush because of course, but it stuck to physical attacks. On turn 1, the Masters attacked, Ree healed, and Stor used INV2. It did another physical attack during this turn, and turn 2 was much the same except with a HEL2.
On turn 3 I went for the kill, having the WWs use FADE (which I don't intend to use in the temple and bought especially for the robot). This cinched it, and the venture actually got everyone but Kung to level 27. He was only 600XP off and it had a strong HP up, so that was easy to grind out.
That meant the temple was all that remained. I was worried about Gas Ds, they in fact ended the first three runs into the temple. On the third of these I tried to anticipate by using HEL2, but the WWs moved first. On subsequent attempts, they left me alone.
It was my sixth run at the temple that got through. Besides that, one died at TIAMAT when I couldn't get WALL off in time, another died at KRAKEN when he dunked Stor.
The only interesting thing about PHANTOM is that it took two rounds to defeat, and that I somehow forgot to take a picture. Slacking, it's been over a year (I slacked so hard in fact I forgot to class change at first). The biggest thing to get down with the temple was finding things to heal against. Generally this meant things without any magic. After PHANTOM I used a FrWOLF with AICE up. Before LICH, I used a MudGOL. It was slightly annoying to defeat it after because the RockGOL had slowed my warriors. The general strategy is White Shirt/Defense up, then use the healing items.
I was a little concerned about the boneman. The WWs didn't have over 400HP, and I've seen some huge NUKEs before. Thankfully it simply wasn't an issue. Two HRM3s and a Master attack brought him down before he could move.
I used FIREs to heal before KARY. She got off a massive physical against Fuu, pictured there, and she thankfully survived the fight. I made sure to get up AFIR on the first turn and beat her down. Not a huge deal aside from that big physical scare.
One of the scarier encounters on the water floor was, believe it or not, a SeaTROLL/LOBSTER/SeaSNAKE group. I threw out all my offensive items against them, but I got some bad turn order and Ree ended up poisoned. I couldn't heal her because well, the items did kill them. Three WATERs were next; I'd healed against them at the start of the floor and did so again before KRAKEN. Thankfully they left Ree alone and I got the healing up.
The strategy against Kraken was one I'd been thinking of for a while. Three INV2s plus the Defense, stack the evade as fast as possible. It didn't work once, but the second time he only hit Kung to critical HP. Still extremely dangerous, so I had to CUR4 immediately, skipping a turn of INV2 in the process.
I was just playing through as I went and forgot some stuff because CHAOS was some shit, but I believe Kraken hit someone down again through the five stacks, necessitating an ALIT just in case. Thankfully he used INK instead. Whatever the case, Stor finished him off with a Black Shirt cast.
Against TIAMAT, I had the WWs use WALL on themselves. I was counting on the bloated magic defense of the Masters for them to survive, but on one run Kung still died and the BANE going before the WWs killed them too. On the winning run, I instead took another huge attack on turn 1
I couldn't get off a second set of WALLs because I only had two casts because I cut my grind short of getting more L8 charges. Would've been able to if I made it to 28. I prefered to save them for CHAOS, so I just got up A-spells. They kept punching away, and I eventually got the win.
A NITEMARE/EVILMAN group showed up afterward, perfect to heal against. Of course, DRINK was still useful to speed things along. Hey for all the scares, I at least had excellent encounter luck. That's probably what's most important in a temple run under variant rules.
That meant it was time to kill Chaos.
I took him to 1742 on the first series of attacks. The WWs cast WALL on the Masters. They were more important this time - they might be able to win on their own even if both WWs died to CRACK. CHAOS physically attacked Kung, no paralysis. I had Ree heal him next turn and Stor prep ARUB for protection against CRACK. Then ICE3 did way too much damage on Stor, but he didn't CRACK. 1521 HP left. LIT3 was next so I used ALIT.
But CHAOS went first with...another physical. Stor used HEL2. Fuu pulled out this whopper of an attack, but Kung only did 87. A little over halfway.
CHAOS' had yet to CRACK and his next elemental was behind that LIT3 adn a SLO2, so I just threw out HEL2s on the WWs. He was left with 664HP, and everyone else was in good shape. I used AFIR and HEL2 next turn. CHAOS did his third physical of the battle however, 144 on Fuu. She thankfully wasn't paralyzed, none of that nonsense this go around. She was a little low on HP, but CHAOS only had 481.
I aimed a CUR4 at her next turn along with a CUR2 on Stor. The SLO2 happened with CHAOS left at 333. This is getting dangerous, he's right before his on CUR4 and I have three full party heals left...
And he used it immediately at the start of the round. Stupid meatheads suddenly deciding to do little damage. They brought CHAOS to 1730HP afterward. I'd thrown out some INV2s just in case, for lack of much better to do during that round. AICE and another INV2 were my spells of choice during that round, CHAOS choosing to use FIR3. He was left with 1566HP, becuase Fuu only did 8 damage.
Stor had nothing better to do next turn, so he used the Black Shirt. Ree used HEL2 to prep for the upcoming NUKE. CHAOS used CRACK, and the Masters attacked. CHAOS was left with 1216.
Next set of attacks: Stor did 27, Fuu did 185, Kung did...5. And Ree did 29. 970 left as CHAOS used ICE2. After thatm Fuu did 263, CHAOS used FAST, the WWs used their healing items, and Kung did 82. Full health for the potential NUKE. Unfortunately, the WWs went first the next turn, also using the healing items. I anticipated it correctly, turn order just got me.
212-390-294-202 were the numbers, christ. Fuu and Kung retaliated with 100 and 97 respectively. 428HP left on CHAOS, but this is dangerous again!! The WWs had one HEL2/HEL3 left respectively and used them. Fuu did 109, Kung 101, and thankfully the WWs went before CHAOS, who used ICE3.
On the next round, Stor went first with the Black Shirt for 27 damage. Fuu attacked for 185. Kung finished it off with...5 damage, which didn't actually finish CHAOS off and in fact left him with exactly 1HP.
Fucking deserves that humiliation for letting CUR4 happen with those pathetic attacks. Take it home, Ree.
Final thoughts? Might be one of my last party-based FF1 challenges, at least ones that involve copious amounts of grinding for a party. That said, this was an interesting challenge. Settling on spellcasting gear right away was different, no shuffling stuff around allowed. It forced some creative strategies at times, like actual use of DRINK and MUTE. Offense was no problem, and I didn't really feel the sting of not having an offensive mage/FAST. Meanwhile, double HEAL spells definitely helped a lot in those tight places.
Now if you want to take a look at the other person doing the same challenge who inspired me to pick this pack up, go here to see CranberryPSO's run. They're using a Red Mage instead of the second White Mage, so there's differences to be had in how they play out!
As always, thanks for reading.
Index