noonic

So I finally beat Kefka. I've been playing BNW 2.0 on and off for the past few months. Wanted to share my Kefka experience and tactics and discuss the game generally. My Kefka Party: - Mog: Desert Aria for Mirage/Healing, Wind Song for Healing, SlowX for phase 2, Float for phase 1 - Strago: Shield, X-Magic: Dark/Ice2, Holy Wind, Black Omen, Osmose - Celes: Elemental Magic, Healing, Runic - Setzer: RegenX, Damage (Dice + Daryl's Soul), Healing (Slots/Magic) Phase 1: Not too bad, Keep your party floated and focus down one thing at a time. Phase 2: Tons of attacks hit you rapid fire in this phase. Make sure shield is up and SlowX is applied and focus down each thing one at a time. One of the enemies is weak to Ice which is nice b/c Celes + Strago can take it down fast. Spam Desert Aria with Mog and hope for Heals/Mirage. Phase 3: Honestly I found this phase the easiest. I think something was weak to Dark which meant Strago could take it out quickly. Towards the end I made sure everyone was fully buffed before transitioning. This helped a bit. Phase 4: After a few failed attempts I realized that the only thing killed me was Meteor + Goner back to back. So my strategy was to have Celes Runic constantly, heal with Mog dances, Setzer slots and Strago Holy Wind. It actually worked quite well. When he purges make sure to reshield. Slip in a RegenX/Osmose when Runic is down and remedy those status effects. Setzer was easily carrying the party damage. Strago slipped in a Black Omen here and there, but I was cheering Setzer's dice the whole time! Setzer has always been a favorite character and to have him be so impactful in the final fight was a blast. Overall thank you so much to the development team. This is the most fun I've had playing a game in years and I had just replayed through vanilla earlier this summer! The love and knowledge the developers had for the original FF6 is obvious and shines in every surprising and positive change. If you are reading this and enjoy FF6 or JRPGs, please take the time to give this mod a try. Also one of my favorite things about the game is how little information there is! It reminds of the late 90s, scouring the internet for FF6 secrets when everything still felt mysterious. Painting Gau when he came back on the Veldt and hoping to revive General Leo! Nowadays as soon as a popular title is released every secret is immediately laid bare, builds are optimized instantly and it's hard to participate in a community and share knowledge in any kind of meaningful way. Scouring the forums here and sharing tidbits of knowledge is part of what gaming used to be. Thank you for that experience as well. You've made an old gamer happy :).

> FYI I seem to have the opposite experience of Noonic-- I found the random encounters of Kefka's Tower so tough and resource-consuming that I had to grind up for a while and try it again. All my characters were level 30 when I first tried it. To be clear I also struggled some with the random encounters. Learning who the priority targets were and strategies for the various characters has made things go more smoothly but there were still some hairy moments. When I said things were "fairly easy" I was referring more to the bosses. I had one shot all of them. I was also around 30 when I first started the tower. I did finally clear Kaiser with an average level of 35. I never grinded for levels, but I did end up taking 4 different parties into Kefka's tower to Kaiser before I found a winning combo. For me it was: Mog, Celes, Terra, Strago. All of these characters had equip loadouts that blocked, halfed or absorbed most elements. This is what it felt like it took to beat him. Unsure if these tips are right or not, but it's what I did: - Always be applying elements. If I stopped applying elements he would cast Meteor, Ultima, Bonebreak or other nasty attacks that wiped me out. If Terra's turn came up and I had nothing better to do I'd just cast Fire 1. - Identify elements you're weak to (holy, dark) and make sure you can immediately apply a different element afterward - Look at all your spells. I didn't realize that Demi was Earth until this fight. Also even though he is immune to Demi it counts as applying Earth. - <3 Strago Shield - I don't think he has that much health. I was prioritizing stability over damage (often casting level 1 Elemental magic just to apply the element) and I killed him right before the third purge I'm unsure about the "pacing" conversation above, but the first time I tried the second purge with Black Omen it failed and I panicked a bit. When Strago's turn came up next I Black Omen'ed a second time and it worked. Overall the strategy of this fight was cool, but I'm not sure if I ever would have figured it out just from the in game hint. The idea is really good, but maybe it just needs to be relaxed a bit so its more easily discoverable in game? Dunno. Not meaning to criticize. I had a ton of fun tracking all the elements I had applied on a sheet of paper and making sure I did everything right. Felt like a kid again :).

I'll be honest and say I don't even remember specifically what I'm thinking of, but maybe just a line or two that felt like it didn't work in the context of the story/characters. Not necessarily something inappropriate for the Clean New Worldpatch. The translation is in general rock solid. Characters feel more developed and alive. The story is clear and the humor is better than the original. Obviously some of this is personal opinion, but I've found the updated translation one of my favorite elements of the playthrough (which is chock full of great updates.)

This game is fantastic. Currently in Kefka's tower and I have loved every second of it. I am playing it with my kids and have applied the "Clean New World" patch and maybe only once had an issue with the translation. Many many times I've thought it was significantly better than the original and much more clear about what was happening in the game.

Yes, I am also struggling with this boss. Which is actually kind of fun because Kefka's tower so far has been fairly easy. I've tried some of the strategies here but am struggling to even make it to the first meltdown sometimes. He is very fast and spams strong magic attacks no matter what I do. On my best attempt I ignored the elements mechanics and intended to use Rerise to survive meltdown, but the Ultima/Meteor spam was too much. Anything obvious to try or is it just time to grind some levels? I'm currently low 30s. Any good late game leveling areas besides Kefka's tower?