Magus details
#1
06 January 2014 - 04:19 PM
I'd love to see some detailed information on this boss and perhaps some tips. How much HP does Magus have left when he stats spamming darkmatter?
Thanks.
#2
10 January 2014 - 07:00 AM
I reloaded from an earlier save and loaded up on middle tonics and revives to discover that darkmatter was not as powerful as I'd feared. I raised Crono up to level 21 and he was able to survive the attack with a barrier while equipped with the dark mail and the silver earrings (level 20 might have been enough but I was wary of the random variation). It seemed that Magus' hit-points had not been boosted and that two barriers were more than sufficient (suggesting that I should have dropped haste and made use of the Taban's helmet instead of levelling Crono up).
I'm certainly enjoying the hack so far zombero. Nice work!
Up until Magus I've found no need to grind, although the dragon tank requires careful attention to detail on level 5 and the battle with Slash made me feel like I was missing something obvious (hmm... maybe hit-point counting to time Triple Raid is the way to go).
#3
10 January 2014 - 12:18 PM
Glad you're enjoying!
Addendum: Sorry I didn't get your question before.
#4
10 January 2014 - 04:45 PM
I'm used to trying to avoid almost all unnecessary encounters, a habit re-inforced by the inability to flee. This leaves me on slightly lower levels than would be expected from "normal play" but not enormously so (I was at level 19 whereas the other "magus grind" thread started with the plight of someone at level 25). I'm glad to hear that the flow should be maintained up until the Black Omen (I've just had fun with Nizbel II).
I'd forgotten that I chose to grind shortly after obtaining Lucca so that I had Flame Toss ready for the four Naga-ette's. Magus was the second encounter that caused me to grind.
The surge in difficulty for Magus was greatly appreciated. The battle took about 20 minutes and was most entertaining. I even had a character fall to HP Down status, a first for me.
I noticed that you snuck the PicoMagnum into the game and it's proving to be quite useful. Have you included any of the other dummied-out pieces of equiptment?
#5
11 January 2014 - 11:31 AM
I didn't want people to be able to be too high of level for Black Omen, so I pretty much to assume max level (though if you just have max magic defense, that's good enough for most characters), but the end game enemies give about 4x as much XP as before, so at least it's quicker to gain levels.
#6
12 January 2014 - 01:51 PM
I've just beaten Golem. The recent battles have been much less demanding and I'm feeling comfortable (even confident) with the sealed goodies next up. I'll leave Swallow in it's box for now, just in case I find myself in dire need of a Safe Helm later.
I'll have to keep an eye out for Graedus. I almost never buy equiptment; I spend most of my money on tonics and such. I'll go back and check the old shops.
Thanks for the responses and thanks again for the hack.
#7
13 January 2014 - 02:01 PM
Hint: You need epoch to reach the shop where Graedus is sold... and it didn't sell any equipment before.
#8
20 January 2014 - 03:56 PM
Things are progressing smoothly. The beasts at the foot of the Mountain of Woe were pretty tough but things seem to have really eased up since then (partly due to the increased number of unavoidable encounters, partly because I allow myself to engage anything which yields 100 tech points). The Ocean Palace was no problem as most of the foes are slow and predictable, but I felt some pressure to charm everything that moved (mages twice) to stock up on Lapises, Barriers, and Shields (I live in constant fear of the future).
I should explain that my desire to open all the chests (and collect all the tablets) trumps my desire to avoid encounters. There is very little conflict in these goals early in the game (2 Guards, Omnicrone, 3 Mutants, and 5 Shadows are all I'm aware of before reaching the end of time). However, The Mountain of Woe and the Ocean Palace are littered with chests which are guarded by some encounter.
Ocean Palace Lavos was fully out of my league.
The Blackbird was a breeze (although one of the turrets did manage to get away from me). I typically change characters and equiptment between each encounter so The Blackbird was a real cause for concern. Glenn managed to learn Cure 2 here! He'd not even learnt Heal when I battled Magus.
I've just made it to the first save point of Death Peak (somehow managing to dodge all the potential encounters on the way up). My party members are at levels 33 and 34 (except Magus). I still have the Swallow/Safe Helm decision and 3 speed tablets in reserve so I expect I'll reach the summit (and I hope I won't need to dip into my stock of shields).
After this I'll have to decide the order in which to tackle the side-quests. Instinct tells me Sun Stone first and Geno Dome last but I'm going to have to experiment a bit. If you have any thoughts to share on this that won't spoil the challenge they'd certainly be appreciated.
#9
22 January 2014 - 01:18 PM
#10
22 January 2014 - 03:09 PM
The side-quest bosses so far have been lackluster (due to Red Vest/Mail). Yakra XIII could have put up more of a fight. The undead at Hero's Grave were a little more interesting but didn't stand long against Fire Zone and Line Bomb.
The Lavos Spawn on the other hand were much more engaging. My first encounter with one ended before I was able to enter a command (much like Ocean Palace Lavos). Humiliated, I came back with a strategy using the gold earrings, a red vest, a hide cap, and a boat-load of revives. The battle lasted a while but, following enough Leap Slash and Robo Tackle, the Lavos Spawn eventually fell.
It's good to know I don't have to worry about charming for the side-quest bosses. I'd noticed that the Lavos Spawn were dropping Elixers but hadn't investigated this particular oddity. I trust this applies to Retinite's speed tablet.
I've opted for the 3 prism helmets over the prism dress. The dress didn't seem so special given the enhancements made to the helmets, the Zodiac cape, and to Taban's suit. Besides, I'm sure I'll be making heavy use of the elemental armors for the more difficult battles.
Crono's Shiva Edge is simply exceptional in this mod. The critical hit rate seems to be about 50% (from counting criticals in the battle with Rust Tyrano).
There's a lot of decent equiptment that gives +10 MDef so it looks like I'll be in a position to tackle Black Omen soon. Hopefully, I'll be able to raise Glenn to level 48 and Crono to level 50 in the remaining side-quests so that they each have at least 79 MDef naturally. Magus, Marle, and Lucca will reach 89 MDef by levels 47, 49, and 50 respectively so I consider these highly desirable bonuses. At these levels, characters have about 800-900 HP which is hopefully ok.
My real problem is in finding some more tech points. I'm still working on Cure 2 for Marle and Magus has yet to even learn Dark Bomb. The only final tech I have so far is Luminaire. I'm not going to be happy entering the Black Omen without at least being on the cusp of a workable Lifeline strategy.
Next up, the Sunken Desert.
#11
23 January 2014 - 02:23 PM
I can't really afford a Vigil Hat but, if I recall correctly, I can find a Vigil Hat and a ton of cash in Geno Dome.
I just noticed that there are two shops which sell Graedus (although I guess their wares are sourced from the same list in the rom).
#12
24 January 2014 - 10:02 AM
Question: How much speed does Slasher 2 give in this hack?
#13
24 January 2014 - 10:21 AM
Slasher 2 doesn't give Speed in this hack. Wouldn't want to steal Swallow's thunder. Not that it has much thunder to steal! At one point I was going to have Ozzie/Slash/Flea be the hardest fight in the game, but decided against that approach haha. Still, I find it a fun one.
#14
24 January 2014 - 05:21 PM
Swallow's a pretty neat weapon then, all things considered. If I play through this hack a second time I'll not push Crono's speed past 13 (at least until I reach the Black Omen panels) to make full use of this weapon.
Yes, the Ozzie, Slash, and Flea fight was good fun, particularly with my party of choice.
I've just cleared Geno Dome. Mother Brain was tricky. My first take left me puzzled as, after taking out the displays, the projection's defences slowly raised to the point of absurdity (is this in the original game? I've not noticed this mechanic before). I tried again with Crono and Marle for Haste + Ice-Sword 2 and managed to end the fight quickly after taking out the last display, indeed, before the projection increased it's defences at all.
My characters are at levels 49-51 (Crono at 53) and everyone is able to max out their MDef with equiptment (Ayla and Robo struggle a bit but at least that means that the Flea Vest has real utility). It seems that the 4-fold EXP was just right to prepare me for your Black Omen.
Hopefully there will be some nasties within that can make me sweat as Magus did. To add to the thrill, I'm going to have Crono carry the wallet as far as he's able.
#15
29 January 2014 - 02:09 PM
Tubster took a couple of tries to get right but it boiled down to "easy if you know how". The speed tab charm was appreciated.
Giga Mutant was on a level of it's own. It combined the survivability concerns of Magus with the timing/synchronisation issues of the Dragon Tank, a very well crafted boss! Nice work! It forced me to drop the wallet (I think it's possible to win with the wallet, but such a feat is beyond my skill). Out of respect to Giga, I'll leave some notes here.
Do the fights get much tougher than this Zombero? Having had the wallet ripped from Crono's fingers, I hope to level up enough on the way to TerraMutant to stand a chance against it.
#16
01 February 2014 - 04:14 PM
Lavos' final forms are both pretty fun. Zeal has a neat a gimmick (kinda like Tubster, in that sense). Nu Spekkio is a bit of a bastard.
#17
02 February 2014 - 04:41 PM
I made my way to TerraMutant (twice ; damned panels). It proved itself rather feisty but not so taxing (I had fun with Max Cyclone).
#18
03 February 2014 - 06:09 AM
Max Cyclone, that might be a first, it does some good damage though!
#19
04 February 2014 - 02:52 PM
I had a really tough time with Lavos Spawn (it enjoyed over an hour of ripping me to pieces; I accrued far more failed attempts here than with Giga). I eventually killed it in a rather demanding 35-min battle. I used up 8 Shields! (I'm sure that's a personal best).
I guess the lowish levels bite more when it comes to physical attacks. I can max MDef with equiptment easily enough but stamina is much harder to boost. With my winning setup, Glenn (Lv 50) had 914 max HP, 86 stamina, and 35 magic, allowing him to survive {Disorder, Disorder} from full HP with the shield buff, but certainly not {Disorder, Heal, Disorder, Disorder}.
Do you have an intended strategy for Lavos Spawn? Something involving the frenzy band perhaps?
#20
04 February 2014 - 07:47 PM