sirsystemerror | FFMQ Low% Part II

Upon reaching Fireburg, I was finally able to purchase Seeds. Granted, the only spell that Reuben has access to is Life, but that alone is handy to be able to replenish - it is my only effective in-battle healing option with this character. I only picked up 10 for the time being.

The Mine is a really fast dungeon if you're just heading directly to the goal. Aside for some trolling from the Zombies and paralysis, this wasn't an issue. Jinn, please remember to heal your characters before going in, thank you. Despite this slipup, it wasn't too bad. Its assault is fire-based, meaning Reuben resisted it all. He played healer with Life and attacked with the Morning Star when needed. B threw Mega Grenades.

Reuben is actually a fairly strong character in spite of his lack of magic. Since his basic attack does not use ammo, this was a fantastic opportunity to gain some levels, and much more easily than I could with Phoebe's pathetic Cat Claw. I fought as much as I could in the Volcano and the Lava Dome, with Seeds to replenish my healing stocks. When all was said and done at the end of the world, he'd hit level 24.

Medusa was thankfully not too bad. She could've been a serious threat with her petrification, especially if she put it on Reuben in which case I'd have no means of healing him. Heal Potions are never sold in stores. Nevertheless, she only pulled it out once, and on B. A combination of Mega Grenades and Reuben attacking saw me through.

By the way, as being demonstrated there: Life completely obsoletes Heal except in two regards. One, while it does heal all negative statuses as well, that property only works in-battle. And second, you can cast Heal on enemies to potentially inflict negative statuses. Other than that, no issue.

The Lava Dome was an excellent chance to train. There's tons of enemies everywhere, and with Life around to heal up and Seeds to spare, I cleaned out the entire dungeon when going through. Nothing really posed a threat - B was high enough level to tank hits, as could Reuben do so, who was able to take out most of the enemies quickly.

Dualhead Hydra. Starting off with this fight was finicky. When it entered its second phase, it became much easier - B could just endlessly defend Reuben, who went to work, healing with Life as needed. The big danger of course was Stone Gas, which could be used in a one-two punch to take out both party members. I lost the first time not because of this, but when Reuben got hit with a critical Scrunch before he could heal - having gotten very far in the meantime. It took several more tries from there to get going, for reasons such as that one seen there, and the spread damage of its flame breath.

Moving on into the Windia region...the solo encounter against the Mummy was handled with Mega Grenades. Thankfully you don't need to use Tristam for long, because his Ninja Stars are very weak at this point of the game.

Finally, with this plot progression, B finally has a real weapon. The Dragon Claw can compete with the Mega Grenades and will eventually surpass it, hits single targets for full damage, and can inflict almost any status in the game on enemies. This includes petrification, which spells instant death for anything vulnerable!

By the way, I was saving up some battlefields to shamelessly use with the double level bug - I wanted B to be at max level by the end of this variant...but I learned here the benefits these provide are short-term. All this does is get you the second level early, you still need to grind to get as much total experience as you would've needed for the next level. Still, the short-term benefits are useful, so I went ahead with it where I could.

The Giant Tree was an unexpectedly obnoxious place due to all the Mad Toads. Rare was it that I had a battle agsinst them where one of the characters escaped unpoisoned. They could also petrify B. The Oozes were at least not too bad, since the Dragon Claw could instantly slay them via petrification. And when you're not relying on magic, having to abstain from using it against them isn't that bad.

Gidrah. Kaeli's natural resistance to petrification was a useful asset here. And she herself could do 1700+ damage by using Aero. B went down a few times over the course of the fight, but this was a overall non-threat.

Mount Gale is a large and slightly confusing place with some annoying enemies, so I avoided them and went straight for the boss. Dullahan is actually vulnerable to a few of the statuses from the Dragon Claw, although only blind came into play during the fight. It otherwise was just up to plinking it down - it's not weak to Aero, unlike Thanatos, its regular enemy counterpart, and other bosses in the region. B got three critical hits with the weapon over the course of the fight, and it chose to not use Doom Dance repeatedly. That sealed its fate right there.

All this fighting gave me the money to purchase tons of Seeds. I bought a full compliment of them and still had cash to spare. This was a game-changer, allowing me full access to partner characters' magic without worrying about running out of healing.

The dynamic in Pazuzu's Tower changed slightly because of this. Despite being the world associated with wind, tons of enemies in the tower (including Pazuzu himself) are weak to Kaeli's Aero: only the Manticores (who can be instantly slain by Life) and Beholders (who reflect all magic) are exempt. Kaeli's regular attacks would not one-shot anything, but she could one-shot anything else but the Beholders - who could be killed by Dragon Claw, and Manticores able to be instantly slain with Life. This was an excellent opportunity to gain tons of levels. Pazuzu spawned on the first floor, the second-best for speedrunning and best for myself, as it allow me to go through every floor and wipe out everything in the way without need for backtracking.

Pazuzu himself wasn't bad at all. B covered Kaeli when needed, reducing the spread damage from Sky Attack, as she set to work using Aero when Psycheshield was down. There was no nonsense with critical hits or anything like that to be had, despite a few incidents of B getting petrified. Very easy fight.

With this only Doom Castle remains.

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