sirsystemerror | 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