Insane Difficulty: Garet's playthrough - Insane Difficulty

Kjata, on 01 December 2015 - 08:35 AM, said:

As I've fought a few of the Mandragora's around Treno I've come to appreciate Marcus a little more. He's got speed in his favour and once I had access to some better equipment, he did a good job of chipping away at my early doubt. Steiner still beats him out in pretty much everything except speed though Garnet with the Multina Racket and the Fairy Earrings -- for increased wind damage -- is actually doing pretty nice damage; enough for me to take Healer off her at any rate.

Laith, on 01 December 2015 - 09:20 AM, said:

Tried the birdie at level 13 with Steiner. His equipment was the Blood Sword, Barbut, Mythril Gloves, Bronze Armour (wind resistance), and Gold Choker (wind resistance + auto-potion). His auto-abilities where Beast and Bird Killer, coupled with HP+10% and Auto-Potion, which took up 14/14 magic stones. I made sure it was only going to be Hi-Potions he was chugging. I managed to chip away 2/3 of its HP before the first White Wind destroyed my efforts. I died to a physical shortly after. I bit the bullet the second go and used the tent trick, with the above set-up, and won with absolutely no difficulty whatsoever. It never hit me once and poison killed it in under 30 seconds. It done the job but it wasn't as satisfying as it could have been. Oh, well. It's dead

I'll earmark Steiner for about level 17-19. With the Blood Sword, Insomniac and Counter to self-heal and guard against sleep, I think I'll be fit to handle the Mistodens -- even if they do hit a little harder. I'll have the Protect skill for Steiner anyway and if I feel I need an extra push I could always spend a little time on Hot & Cold and trade in points for a Protect Ring to teach him Long Reach. Though I'd prefer not to have to do that Nice to have the option though.

I'll hopefully get Garnet's section squared away shortly and leave with a sufficiently levelled Steiner and a good start on Eiko's stats for later.

Not much to this update sadly. Got through the Treno area with Garnet, Steiner and Marcus at level 18 and every possible add-on for Zidane's party that I can get at this point, including the Mythril Fork steal from the worm boss. Quina's Full Fork just got an upgrade I'll probably push Steiner to level 20 when they bust out of that cage. When I got control of Zidane again I backtracked to the marsh for some frog catching. When I had that done my younger cousin -- who's at the stage where he likes every game I that I like and wants me to watch him play them -- wanted to play the chocobo game (Hot and Cold). So he did that for a few hours and I cleared a dungeon or two on FF14. Because of that I just got to the first moogle in Cleyra's trunk.

Monsters aren't as bad as I initially feared. Freya buffs with shell and regens my HP whilst jumping high from the back row, Vivi pumps out crazy damage with powered-up ra spells, Quina's doing a solid 350-400 damage with Full Fork, and Zidane's on standby to regen MP with Restore or Blind/Silence pesky critters. He's also running situational damage with MP attack when he has nothing to do. I'm looking forward to the Exploda so I can trouble some enemies, 'cause I see Landon removed the Trouble skill. Should help get around their defences a little more. The only Blue Magic I haven't gotten for Quina yet at this point of the game is Auto-Life, which is next on my to-do list.

Looking forward to the Antlion fight. I'll roll with silence and sleep to start and then chip away at him with Vivi and Quina, as Zidane steals. I also plan to face Tantarian on Disc 2. The Mistodon's Mist attack is actually shadow-based, so if I got the Demon's Mail to absorb shadow (assuming that it hasn't been changed) then that'll make that segement easier on me. That's the plan at any rate.

I can't really talk about Disc 2 Tantarian, but it sounds like Steiner would be a really decent option compared to Amarant on Disc 3.

It might depend on your lvl (perhaps), but this one particular battle can be tricky especially because he can wipe out the party with one attack. I suppose you'll let us know when you get there.

Laith, on 03 December 2015 - 11:41 AM, said:

Yeah, I'm not a hundred mile away at the minute. Almost through Cleyra. My plan for Tantarian involves the back row and Steiner's protect skill -- that's where it finishes, at the minute. If I can get him open I'll spam Fira and Fire Sword right up the whazzo! Freya will be healing between phases (I don't imagine I'll steal everything in one phase or deal enough damage to kill it).

I think I didn't even bother stealing, considering some items weren't really that good. But I was really low leveled and on disc 3, so I couldn't bother with stealing 'cause I needed perfect ATB timing to get him to open up.

I really hope Steiner's Protect is enough to reduce that Paper Storm damage.

YEHAA!!!!!

Holy shit, Tantarian is down! And I got three of the steals; An Ether, the Fork for Quina and the Demon's Mail

Zidane, Freya and Steiner all at level 18. Vivi was at level 17. Everyone in the back row. Auto-abilities included Antibody across the board, and Distract (increased evasion) for Zidane and Steiner, Bandit for Zidane, and Gamble Defence for Freya. Tantarian opened with Doom, which hit Vivi. Freya threw up Reis Wind whilst Steiner got up protect. Zidane did nothing except steal and emergency healing when needed. Freya revived Vivi and I focused then on dealing enough damage to get between pages 150-200. Once I did Freya alternated between healing the group and restoring Steiner and Vivi's MP when needed. Zidane stole the Fork on the first go and I then had a string of failures till I got that bloody ether > Steiner was hitting 1300+ with Fira Sword, whilst Vivi was hitting 1100+. I opened him up the first time and wailed on him with everything I could throw out. When he popped inside the book again I got protect up before he hit me with Paper Storm. Steiner and Freya only lost half their HP. Vivi and Zidane where dropped to the yellow. Vivi and Freya took up healing, Zidane helped out, and Steiner attacked like it was going out of fashion. Vivi then helped out and I managed to open him up again, and Zidane -- bless his nimble fingers -- got that blasted Mail! Everything went to attack. It took about ten minutes over all. The clock hit 16:24.

Gonna kill me some clowns now

Got to Lindblum last night before I called it a night and saved inside the inn.

MVP throughout Cleyra: Vivi and Quina. Powered Blizzara steam-rolled everything except the Sand Golem, which died to a Full Fork immediately after.

MVP throughout Garnet's rescue: Steiner. Fira Sword destroyed Tantarian, and against Zorn and Thorn, Steiner just annihilated them. His attack that hits the whole enemy party meant they never once got an attack off at me. The sheen I thought he had lost going into Disc 2 was back in full-force!

As I said before I'm looking forward to the Exploda, not so much because of the attack increase -- my Zidane is currently in the back row to make healing easier -- but because I'll be fit to inflict Trouble with his Soul Blade. Vivi and Garnet are the ones doing the damage at the minute, with Zidane silencing things and throwing out Restores. Garnet with the Multina Racket and a Feather Hat (increases wind element attack) for now, coupled with Auto-Haste, is churning out respectable damage and swift healing when needed. Vivi has Bio though powered Blizzara still does more damage, for less of an MP cost. So I'll stick with that till better options are available.

Pinnacle Rocks was uneventful except when I ran into a Zanghnol and thought to myself: "I killed Tantarian, you're nothing hahaha- HOLY SHIT, VIVI AND GARNET ARE DEAD!!!!!" Zidane survived with 63 HP and I nearly had myself a heart attack. After purchasing myself a new pair of trousers I got Ramuh and watched half of Lindblum fly down Atomos' throat. I was maybe eight when I first saw that scene and it's still epic!

So, I'm more-or-less a hop, skip and a jump away from the Outer Continent. Not looking forward to Lani.

Ohei I was also around 8-9 years old!

Yeah, don't let your guard down ever. Random battles can fuck you up if you're not careful.

At your current level, Lani shouldn't be a huge problem. Looking forward to your strategy to beat her!

Laith, on 04 December 2015 - 06:31 AM, said:

Final Fantasy 9 and The Legend of Dragoon, alongside Golden Sun and Fire Emblem (Eliwood, Hector & Lyndis), where my very first RPG's and still my favourites to this day.

Definitely having more problems with the random encounters than the actual boss battles. I've got Quina back now thank goodness -- and I never thought I'd say that, considering s/he was my least favourite character in the vanilla game -- so Garnet's going back to having Healer equipped, and Zidane's going back to the front row for physical attacks. Distract will hopefully help his survivability. The Survival Vest I stole from Beatrix in Alexandria helped his defences no end, which where lacking for quite a while, especially once I hit Cleyra. Sand Scorpions especially almost killed him with their counter.

I've got a strategy for Lani that centres around leather plates to resist her Blizzara and MP Hammer to remove her MP as quickly as possible. Once that's done I'll keep Quina on standby for White Wind, Garnet will be on Protect duty, Zidane will steal before moving onto physical attacks, and Vivi will whittle away with a powered up Blizzara. Quina's going in the back row -- I wonder if that effects the strength of Full Fork?

EDIT: My strategy worked, at least for a while. I did a quick look at Lani's article on the FF wiki after beating her. She has 4802 MP in the vanilla game, and I removed more than double that with Magic Hammer, yet she was still throwing out spells at me. I can only assume she regens MP. Garnet being on standby for protect quickly changed to shell, and Quina went a dual-approach, throwing out White Wind and Pyro whenever necessary. Zidane stole everything then focused on restore to help my MP consumption. Boy do I miss Freya's White Draw. Without shell Garnet was ohko'd by her magic every time. There was a time when I got caught in a reviving spree that was only broken when Lani used Scan instead of something else. The Gladius I got from her teaches Zidane Free Energy, which I hope deals the same damage from the back row. If not oh well.

I'm with you on FFIX and Golden Sun!

Free Energy, as far as I'm concerned, shouldn't be affected by your row position. Personally, I think having access to it outside of Trance is a great addition, even without the boost Trance gives.

Laith, on 04 December 2015 - 09:05 AM, said:

I downloaded the hard-type patch of Golden Sun 1 and 2 from this site, the hard-type patch of FFT advance, as well as FF9, and they're all epic! Crossbone Isle specifically was really difficult. Stuck on the Mercury Spirit, then decided to set it down and do this playthrough

As it turns out neither Free Energy nor Full Fork's damage are affected by row, which was very nice. I managed to steal the Silver Fork from Tantarian back in Alexandria, so Quina's dishing out about 550+ damage for only 5MP with all the defensive bonuses of the back row. Zidane's focusing on Killer skills and distract so he's doing about 250-300 per attack from the front row and nearly 500 with Free Energy, and he'll only hit harder when I give him the Exploda back instead of using the Gladius to learn Free Energy. Garnet's on healing duty with haste + healer equipped, and for the first time in the game I'm able to reserve Vivi's MP and only use him when my back's against the wall.

I actually don't want to get to Condie Petie's mountain path 'cause I know I'll lose Quina and, funnily enough, the vast majority of my damage will go with his rotund ass >

Ah, indeed. Losing Quina sucks a bit. Eiko's on her way though! Training Marcus should pay off now.

What are your levels right now? Vivi will definitely have to pick up the damage role again.

Well, my absolutely killing party in Unleashed was Zidane, Dagger, Eiko and Amarant, so I'd be pretty happy about it instead of sad. Luckily, there's good ways to use all of the characters, just like in FFIX, so yeah.

Also, you're pretty much past the hard part for a while, so you'll enjoy the game a lot til, say mid Disc 3. Then it'll start getting tougher again.

I had to vary my teams, 'cause underleveled. I actually remember having to Jump with Freya to bypass Maliris's dying attack, just because no one could take it and survive. All shits and giggles.

Which also made Hilgigars really hard for me at that point... But yeah, after that it was quite calm until Terra.

Laith, on 05 December 2015 - 11:35 AM, said:

Zidane's 23, Garnet's 21, Vivi's 22 and Quina's 21. No Level UP used on either at this point and I just hit the Outer Continent.

Hart-Hunt, on 05 December 2015 - 01:40 PM, said:

That's not much different from my end-game party in the vanilla game, though I preferred Garnet over Eiko as a healer, even though Eiko has Phoenix. I'm definitely dealing with the random encounters easier at this point, though magic still owns my Vivi, whose HP is below-par. I'm looking forward to having Steiner back though. No one has dished out damage as consistently as him yet in my playthrough, and he can regen HP and MP effortlessly.

Laith, on 05 December 2015 - 01:49 PM, said:

Hey it worked, right? I had the same problem in the vanilla game during low-level games though I'll probably just tank her suicide skill with auto-life. I'll see when I get that far As for the Hilgigars. NOT looking forward to that, not one bit. That damnable flute will be the death of me, though I can't pass Regen up. Call me crazy.

I got my eyes opened when I made it to the mountain path and lost Quina. S/he was brilliant at crowd control and burst damage -- Night, Pyro, 1000 needles, Full Fork. I could go on. It's amazing just how much I was relying on it for damage. Now that I've got Eiko my damage has taken a nose-dive! My strategy for most random encounters at this point is to inflict them with the Rune Tooth's poison via Soul Blade and keep my HP high with Garnet and Eiko. The Gnolls and Trolls are hitting my characters way too hard with Blizzara (often killing everyone but Zidane in one casting) so I had to backtrack to the Black Mage Village in order to synthesize a set of Maiden Rings for everyone -- the only item at this point in the mod that can resist ice attacks. It's helped a little and I've paired that with Garnet's shell, though it's a bit impractical MP-wise. To equip the Maiden Ring on Garnet I had to take off her Extension, which was boosting Ramuh into the 2000 damage region when I got the full animation. 1500 or so without. To compensate I sacrificed some of Vivi's physical defence to give him both a hat and body piece that boost ice-elemental attacks. He's back to being my primary source of damage through Blizzara.

Gonna take a swing at stealing the Fairy Flute soon.

Yeah that big guy is just... lovely.

You're close to done with disc 2, the best part is about to come!

Yeah, Hilgigars was one of the more annoying bosses for me in disc 1/2 and I never even bothered with the fairy flute. Good luck

Laith, on 08 December 2015 - 04:51 PM, said:

I've plenty of equipment to reduce the damage of Earthquake, no problems there. It's the stealing I'm worried about. All I can say is bring on Amarant. As soon as I get his backside in my party throwing Rising Suns out the wazzo, the sooner I see some damage that isn't dictated by MP consumption or row placement! Lord only knows, between Vivi's black magic costing Heaven and Earth, not to mention the summons costing the damned universe in comparison, I need more stable damage options. Free Energy ain't cutting it right now and my rotund Qu's busy easting Eiko's fish to be bothered lending me mini-Flare.

Tray1990, on 09 December 2015 - 08:13 AM, said:

I've mentioned it before, but I'm a bit of a complesionist -- the exception being the Excalibur II, which is damn ridiculous. The guy who coded that needs a firm kick between the legs. Of course this means I was attempting the Hilgigars till I stole that fecking flute. Not. Fun. At. All. Six attempts in all. If I see another reference to Hilgigars I fear I'll fly off the station and start killing things for the sheer hell of it.

Anywho, I eventually got the flute, and I have to say something. Landon is evil > Like, an evil genius, and not the good kind, either. He took off regen and gave that bloody flute wall! WALL!!!! I could have taught Eiko that using an add-on I've had so long Garnet could have gotten it had she been able to learn it! I fought that thing SIX TIMES for nothing! If the Lifa Tree monsters weren't so easy to kill -- phoenix downs, Life, soft, etc -- I'd feel cheated.

On the subject of the Lifa Tree I'm about to descend into its depths and fight the Soul Cage. No problems as far as the random monsters are concerned bar one, which made Eiko something of a mainstay. Her Phoenix saved my ass when I forgot to heal between battles and one of the multi-armed tree-like things (Strooper) used Sweep and killed my party. I'd like to think Zidane felt my rage and butchered that thing with Free Energy when my team was revived.

Soul Cage is, IMO, one of the hardest bosses in the game, so it'll be interesting to see how you are going to deal with it.