Ozma

[Heath]

So about ten years too late, I finally beat Ozma today.

It was for a lack of trying; I'd never bothered to give it a go until now. I'd put off having a go under vague ambitions to grind dragons or catch frogs to do things the easy way with Freya and Quina. And then I'd find something more intellectually stimulating else to do instead.

I wasn't particularly impressed by the difficulty if I'm entirely honest. I used Zidane, Freya, Garnet and Steiner all in their mid-50s (ish). Granted I did the friendly monsters quest do it wasn't as hard as it could have been, but it still wasn't too taxing. I am quite happy that I can finally tick it off my list.

So, Ozma: have you beaten it? What did you make of it?

[Gamblet]

As long as I use shadow absorbing equipment I win. It was no biggie for me, stealing all the stuff got me nervous though.

[Omni-Odin]

I think Ozma is one of the easiest Secret Bosses in a videogame. I overly prepared and absolutely destroyed it. I remember the Weapons, some Coliseum fights, the secret FFX Monster Catching final boss thing, and Omega Weapon in VIII being much harder. As Gamblet said I wore Shadow gear and had basically everything else to hit for 9999 on every swing so it was no biggie. I think XII was probably the longest one these secret hardest bosses however. Tiamat I think. I must've run in and out of that dungeon fifty times.

[Hollycat]

I think Ozma is one of the easiest Secret Bosses in a videogame. I overly prepared and absolutely destroyed it. I remember the Weapons, some Coliseum fights, the secret FFX Monster Catching final boss thing, and Omega Weapon in VIII being much harder. As Gamblet said I wore Shadow gear and had basically everything else to hit for 9999 on every swing so it was no biggie. I think XII was probably the longest one these secret hardest bosses however. Tiamat I think. I must've run in and out of that dungeon fifty times.
Not Tiamat, he's a story boss. You must be thinking of Yaizmat, although personally I found hell worm to be tougher.

I've never even challenged Ozma, fighting a ball doesn't have the same amount of thrill in it as fighting a twenty story tall monster, or a god.

[Omni-Odin]

I think Ozma is one of the easiest Secret Bosses in a videogame. I overly prepared and absolutely destroyed it. I remember the Weapons, some Coliseum fights, the secret FFX Monster Catching final boss thing, and Omega Weapon in VIII being much harder. As Gamblet said I wore Shadow gear and had basically everything else to hit for 9999 on every swing so it was no biggie. I think XII was probably the longest one these secret hardest bosses however. Tiamat I think. I must've run in and out of that dungeon fifty times.
Not Tiamat, he's a story boss. You must be thinking of Yaizmat, although personally I found hell worm to be tougher.

I've never even challenged Ozma, fighting a ball doesn't have the same amount of thrill in it as fighting a twenty story tall monster, or a god.

You're right. It was Yiazmat. Super difficult. Took me hours to beat.

[Necronopticous]

Now do it at level one (http://home.eyesonff.com/final-fantasy-ix/54748-final-fantasy-ix-level-one-ozma-challenge-whole-thread-may-contain-spoilers.html)!

[Elpizo]

Ozma is just random. You can have an extremely easy time defeating him one moment, only for him to wipe you out with Meteor on his first turn the next. It's all a matter of luck, which is what makes him so difficult. The other super bosses all have either a set pattern of moves they infinitely repeat or require a specific strategy to beat. Ozma has none of that; he's entirely unpredictable, which can make him tough as hell or a total cakewalk depending on how the dices roll.

[Karifean]

I wouldn't say it makes him so "difficult", as sometimes there's just literally nothing you can do. IMO, Ozma simply does not have a set difficulty level, rather it's arbitrarily decided by chance. Which is stupid and does not make for an interesting challenge in the slightest.

[Elpizo]

It makes it a much more interesting fight than superbosses where you just have to repeat one strategy over and over or who use the same attack pattern over and over, IMHO. Ozma at least provides variety. With most other super bosses (mind you, not all of them), if you have the right setup, the outcome is always pretty much guaranteed. Similar to Yiazmat, that's not challenging in the slightest; it's simply a grind until you're capable of using that strategy with that gear. With Ozma it is not and I like that. There's nothing wrong with a bit of luck being needed to win.

[Hollycat]

It makes it a much more interesting fight than superbosses where you just have to repeat one strategy over and over or who use the same attack pattern over and over, IMHO. Ozma at least provides variety. With most other super bosses (mind you, not all of them), if you have the right setup, the outcome is always pretty much guaranteed. Similar to Yiazmat, that's not challenging in the slightest; it's simply a grind until you're capable of using that strategy with that gear. With Ozma it is not and I like that. There's nothing wrong with a bit of luck being needed to win.

Yes there is. Any game where the enemy can randomly kill you with an unblockable move that doesn't have a set of prerequisites is wrong. For example, Margaret in Persona 4 one hits everyone, but only after 50 turns.

[Shauna]

It's all a matter of luck, which is what makes him so difficult.

Random chance != difficulty.

Ozma is not more difficult because he has a move that can one-hit-kill. The existence of this arbitrary instakill gives Ozma a cheap move, which is not a good thing.

A lot of the joy of games is coming up against a wall, getting destroyed and then finding a way to overcome that. Cheap moves like the one Ozma has means that there is no chance for that to happen, and if you get instakilled - well, there's nothing you can do except try again. You could do the battle 100 times and he might just randomly use that attack every time, and again there's nothing you can do to make this better. That isn't a fun thing. :p

[Elpizo]

Actually, there is. Ozma has no instant-kill attacks (unlike, say, Omega Weapon in VIII with its guaranteed 9999 damage attack). Meteor's damage is random, as far as I know. It could kill you in one hit, it also could barely do any damage at all. That's how the spell works. It's not an exclusively instant-KO move, nor is it unique to Ozma. Doomsday can be protected against, leaving only Neutron Ring as a guaranteed heavy-hit attack. Meteor's the biggest threat, but it's a wild card at the same time since you can never be sure what it'll do. You just need a bit of luck. But it's not the only thing that makes Ozma difficult, he's also extremely fast and has access to some of the strongest moves in the game, which he can use at random. He's unpredictable and that's what makes him hard. The factor of luck with Meteor just adds some extra tension to the fight, is all.

[Karifean]

I have nothing against unpredictable bosses, but only as long as you can, in theory, defend against anything it throws at you. With Meteor, there is a good chance that it will wipe you out and there's literally nothing, and I mean nothing, you can do about it.

Of course Meteor is not a guaranteed insta-kill. But there's a possibility that it is, just like how it is a possibility that he uses it in the first place. When it does happen, it's really just the game telling you, "I've just arbitrarily decided that the fight up until now is zero and zilch. Reset and try again, even though you did nothing at all wrong." Wonderful feature, isn't it?

[Elpizo]

That's pretty much a stapple for super bosses, though. At least Ozma only did Meteor occasionally. Yiazmat, for example, could randomly inflict instant death with every single one of his attacks. *shrugs*

[Gamblet]

I must be very lucky then. :lol: