Kefka a pushover?

[Sabin-101]

To me as a final boss I never felt he was so hard to beat. The first time I beat him I didn't even try that hard and I beat him. Of course he has epic battle music but I really wanted a challenge with Kefka but I felt let down. I even tried not using summons magic spells or anything that would make the fight easier and I still beat him without much trouble. Does anyone feel like the difficulty could have been upped to make Kefka a lot harder?

[Sephiroth]

Are you talking about his Mahou no Kami battle, so the final one or also the Hell, Earth, Heaven stages? Because I thought as long as you were not full of Ultimas, Ultima Weapon, Gem Box, Offering, Illumina and all, the battles were solid enough.

[Sabin-101]

I was talking about the final main fight with the dancing mad song. Even if you don't have those items if you have good equipment you can still wip his butt lol.

[Sephiroth]

I was talking about the final main fight with the dancing mad song. Even if you don't have those items if you have good equipment you can still wip his butt lol.

The entire battle has Dancing Mad as song. I suppose you mean the last part of the song.

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah, he's a complete lightweight for a final boss, even with less than optimal builds.

I wrote up a while back an Idea of how I would make the fight more challenging in an older thread.



Kefka (Final Boss)


Kefka now takes half damage from all magic, even non-elemental spells* (Flare, Ultima) and skills that use Magic power to determine damage (Lores, some Rages/Blitz/Tools/Bushido/Slots)
Trine, in addition to silence and blind, now inflicts Sap, Confusion, Imp, and Slow.
Vengeance, in addition to dispelling all Buff effects on party, and grants them to Kefka except Reraise/shell/protect/reflect which if present heals Kefka instead for 1000hp per status per character that had the status.
Forsaken now ignores defense and split damage, meaning it will most likely be a party wipe skill, though Shell status will reduce damage by 25% and Jump/Hide status will be immune.
Havoc Wing has a 10% chance of ejecting the character from the battle field.
Kefka now has four hit box placements on his sprite. Only one can actually have damage inflicted on him but its also the only one the player can target normally. Unfocused attacks from Blitzes, Rages, and X-Fight can still target these dummy hit boxes, but they have no HP and will count as a miss.


Boss Phases

Phase 1
Full HP to 41,000 HP


Kefka starts the battle with Heartless Angel/Fallen One
Kefka Immediately casts Barrier Change
In this phase only one elemental spell will hurt him of the 8 elements. He still only takes Half Damage from the spell though.
Non-elemental spells used on him in this phase will be countered with Ultima
All non-magic attacks will miss
If Quick is used, Kefka will counter with Fallen One followed by an immediate use of Ultima.
Kefka will alternate between the three -aga spells, Havoc Wing, Vengeance, and Fallen One



Phase 2
40,999 to 20,000



Kefka will drop the Magic Barrier ruse and start charging Forsaken
Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts.
Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing
Kefka will dual cast all magic spells and adds Bio, Graviga, Quake, Meltdown and Tornado to the list. Kefka will still use Fallen One, Vengeance, and Havok Wing though only 33% of the time.
If Barrage/X-Fight is used with a physical attack, Kefka will immediately counter with Vengeace, then Fallen One followed by Ultima even if the player attack reduces his HP to zero.



Phase 3
19,999 to 0Hp



Kefka will use Vengeance whenever ReRaise is active on a party member except when his algorithm has him casting Ultima next.
Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts, but is still susceptible to any the party uses.
Kefka will now have an irremovable status effects of Haste/Protect/Shell
Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing
Kefka will replace Havoc Wing with Hyperdrive in his normal repertoire of attacks.
Kefka will now triple cast Flare, Holy, and Meteor. He will single cast Ultima.
Kefka can now also use Curaga which will restore 9999hp, if Kefka's HP somehow returns to Phase One status, Kefka will enact the Barrier Change tactic again but still retain all of his abilities from Phase 3.
Kefka will still charge up and use Forsaken though its casting time is faster.
When HP is reduced to zero, Kefka will use the attack Light of Judgement as a final attack. LoJ will be just a recolored version of Forsaken, Kefka will also use his trademark laugh as he disintegrates.

[Bubba]

I so want to read this but as I'm on my second play through now and I didn't quite finish my first one... I have no idea how tough he is! I guess I hope he isn't too easy for a final boss.

[Sabin-101]

Yeah, he's a complete lightweight for a final boss, even with less than optimal builds.

I wrote up a while back an Idea of how I would make the fight more challenging in an older thread.



Kefka (Final Boss)


Kefka now takes half damage from all magic, even non-elemental spells* (Flare, Ultima) and skills that use Magic power to determine damage (Lores, some Rages/Blitz/Tools/Bushido/Slots)
Trine, in addition to silence and blind, now inflicts Sap, Confusion, Imp, and Slow.
Vengeance, in addition to dispelling all Buff effects on party, and grants them to Kefka except Reraise/shell/protect/reflect which if present heals Kefka instead for 1000hp per status per character that had the status.
Forsaken now ignores defense and split damage, meaning it will most likely be a party wipe skill, though Shell status will reduce damage by 25% and Jump/Hide status will be immune.
Havoc Wing has a 10% chance of ejecting the character from the battle field.
Kefka now has four hit box placements on his sprite. Only one can actually have damage inflicted on him but its also the only one the player can target normally. Unfocused attacks from Blitzes, Rages, and X-Fight can still target these dummy hit boxes, but they have no HP and will count as a miss.


Boss Phases

Phase 1
Full HP to 41,000 HP


Kefka starts the battle with Heartless Angel/Fallen One
Kefka Immediately casts Barrier Change
In this phase only one elemental spell will hurt him of the 8 elements. He still only takes Half Damage from the spell though.
Non-elemental spells used on him in this phase will be countered with Ultima
All non-magic attacks will miss
If Quick is used, Kefka will counter with Fallen One followed by an immediate use of Ultima.
Kefka will alternate between the three -aga spells, Havoc Wing, Vengeance, and Fallen One



Phase 2
40,999 to 20,000



Kefka will drop the Magic Barrier ruse and start charging Forsaken
Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts.
Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing
Kefka will dual cast all magic spells and adds Bio, Graviga, Quake, Meltdown and Tornado to the list. Kefka will still use Fallen One, Vengeance, and Havok Wing though only 33% of the time.
If Barrage/X-Fight is used with a physical attack, Kefka will immediately counter with Vengeace, then Fallen One followed by Ultima even if the player attack reduces his HP to zero.



Phase 3
19,999 to 0Hp



Kefka will use Vengeance whenever ReRaise is active on a party member except when his algorithm has him casting Ultima next.
Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts, but is still susceptible to any the party uses.
Kefka will now have an irremovable status effects of Haste/Protect/Shell
Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing
Kefka will replace Havoc Wing with Hyperdrive in his normal repertoire of attacks.
Kefka will now triple cast Flare, Holy, and Meteor. He will single cast Ultima.
Kefka can now also use Curaga which will restore 9999hp, if Kefka's HP somehow returns to Phase One status, Kefka will enact the Barrier Change tactic again but still retain all of his abilities from Phase 3.
Kefka will still charge up and use Forsaken though its casting time is faster.
When HP is reduced to zero, Kefka will use the attack Light of Judgement as a final attack. LoJ will be just a recolored version of Forsaken, Kefka will also use his trademark laugh as he disintegrates.




Nice list and yes he is a total lightweight. They hyped him up to be this god like figure and when you get to him he really wasn't that tough. I thought when you first faced him in the snowy field behind Narshe I thought he was a good enough challenge. Hopefully if there is a redone version square will make Kefka a lot harder.

[FFNut]

He was rather easy. I even did the challenge of beating him with a party of imps which were not to difficult.

[Vyk]

He's a kid with a gun. I can't say I'm surprised. He stumbled into power, it's not like he actually knew what he was doing. So it makes sense. It's like the weirdo ending to old-timey action movies when the hero finally faces down the leader of a gang who's sat on his ass behind a desk too much ordering people around and not doing anything himself, and can't put up a good fight once finally confronted

Granted, Hollywood eventually realized that's no fun, and now usually makes head honchos ridiculously skilled for a worthwhile final showdown. I just can't imagine Kefka studying and practicing to become a master with/against magic and martial arts

[Sephiroth]

To bring in some alternative to Kanno's post.


Cefca - Mahou no Kami

-SyLJ3MuQrs
HP: Amount of spells all your characters have x 500
MP: 999, Never depletes
Absorbs: Magic Attacks
Immune to: All negative Status ailments

Moves:
Mad Fireworks (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Fire-Elemental, 3 RNG hits for characters
Mad Blizzard (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Ice-Elemental, all-target, 25% freeze-chance for everyone
Mad Thunderstorm (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Thunder-Elemental, 5 RNG hits for characters
Mad Flood (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Water-Elemental, all-target, 5% chance of removing character from battle
Mad Terraforming (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Earth-Elemental, all-target, 10% chance of petrification
Mad Gust (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Wind-Elemental, all-target, 5% chance of swapping character or removing them completely if no one is left
Mad Ultima (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Non-Elemental, all-target, RNG 9999 damage against 1-3 characters
Havoc Wing:
Physical, 9999 damage against one target, not reducable
Hyper Drive:
Physical, all-target, RNG sleeps for 1-4 turns, 2500xnumber of turns
Fallen One:
all-target, momentary Hit Points = 1
Trine (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Non-Elemental, all-target, RNG status elements: Sleep, Confuse, Silence
Missing (Goner, ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries:
Non-Elemental, all-target, character LVx50
Missing Zero (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
Non-Elemental, all target, RNG 1-5 hits against random targets, Hit 1: 1000 damage, Hit 2: 2000 damage, et cetera
Sophia's Blessing (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
+9999 HP on Cefca, Protes
Sephirot's Blessing (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
+9999 HP on Cefca, Shell
Zurvan's Blessing (ignores Runic, disarms Celes if she tries):
+9999 HP on Cefca, Haste
Deities' Crusade:
all-targets, Death, Petrification, Sleep, Blind, Silence, Confuse or 1-5000 damage
Light of Judgment:
If(Terra is an active party member or still functional as backup){
If(Terra is in Trance){
let her guard the others that breaks so she has to give it her all;
Dialogue between Terra and Cefca;
Remove Trance;
initiate Terra KO animation;
Remove Cefca;}
If(Terra is not in Trance){
bring her in in Trance and let her guard the others that breaks so she has to give it her all;
Dialogue between Terra and Cefca;
Remove Trance;
initiate Terra KO animation;
Remove Cefca;
}
Else{
Party Wipe
}
}
Else{
Party Wipe
}

[Wolf Kanno]

He's a kid with a gun. I can't say I'm surprised. He stumbled into power, it's not like he actually knew what he was doing. So it makes sense. It's like the weirdo ending to old-timey action movies when the hero finally faces down the leader of a gang who's sat on his ass behind a desk too much ordering people around and not doing anything himself, and can't put up a good fight once finally confronted

Granted, Hollywood eventually realized that's no fun, and now usually makes head honchos ridiculously skilled for a worthwhile final showdown. I just can't imagine Kefka studying and practicing to become a master with/against magic and martial arts

If you want to make the fight challenging, I suggest building a party consisting of Umaro, Mog, Gogo, and Gau. Umaro must be imped, Mog must use Dance, Gogo can only use Rage or Dance and must do the same as Mog or Gau's rules, and Gau is restricted to WoB Rages. ;)

@Sephiroth

Nice ideas, I especially like the shout-out to the Warring Triad names Nomura used in the production phase for them.

[Sephiroth]

@Sephiroth

Nice ideas, I especially like the shout-out to the Warring Triad names Nomura used in the production phase for them.

Not just there. Goddess, Doom and Poltrgeist also have their normal names Sophia, Sephirot and Zurvan in FFXIV.

[Wolf Kanno]

@Sephiroth

Nice ideas, I especially like the shout-out to the Warring Triad names Nomura used in the production phase for them.

Not just there. Goddess, Doom and Poltrgeist also have their normal names Sophia, Sephirot and Zurvan in FFXIV.

Interesting, I had not heard they went with those names for XIV. Course it would help if I played XIV, but that shipped sailed. Still neat to know though.

[Sephiroth]

Interesting, I had not heard they went with those names for XIV. Course it would help if I played XIV, but that shipped sailed. Still neat to know though.

knV-5VciTTQ

25WOf5s-SU0

cPcNrfT50bU

[FFNut]

He's a kid with a gun. I can't say I'm surprised. He stumbled into power, it's not like he actually knew what he was doing. So it makes sense. It's like the weirdo ending to old-timey action movies when the hero finally faces down the leader of a gang who's sat on his ass behind a desk too much ordering people around and not doing anything himself, and can't put up a good fight once finally confronted

Granted, Hollywood eventually realized that's no fun, and now usually makes head honchos ridiculously skilled for a worthwhile final showdown. I just can't imagine Kefka studying and practicing to become a master with/against magic and martial arts

If you want to make the fight challenging, I suggest building a party consisting of Umaro, Mog, Gogo, and Gau. Umaro must be imped, Mog must use Dance, Gogo can only use Rage or Dance and must do the same as Mog or Gau's rules, and Gau is restricted to WoB Rages. ;)

@Sephiroth

Nice ideas, I especially like the shout-out to the Warring Triad names Nomura used in the production phase for them.

Forget the rage off hand, but one of them basically can charm Kefka making him destroy himself. Rage is a giant no no for a challenge.

[Wolf Kanno]

That's why I restricted it to World of Balance rages, because the seriously abusive ones are in the second half of the game. Course, the real challenge here is the fact you don't have a reliable healer, so chances are you'll be using a support Rage for Gau or Gogo since Mog's Dances are finicky.

[FFNut]

If that's the case I would guess Stay Cat would be the go to offensive Rage as Cat Scratch is a damage machine. Not sure about the healing Rage though.

[maybee]

Idk, I would rather have a fun and simple boss than a complete hardass one that blocks you from seeing the final ending for so long, because you are struggling to defeat him for so long.

Kefka is an insane psychopathic monster who enjoys poisoning innocents, but at least he was nice enough to give you a fun and simple final battle with fantastic music.

Dark Cloud, Zeromus and Ex-Death could learn a lot from him.

[Wolf Kanno]

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I've always found it a bit sad that the villains with boss battles with epic presentation and style, are also the easiest battles in the entire series. Kind of makes the hype for the fights less intimidating.

[Sabin-101]

Idk, I would rather have a fun and simple boss than a complete hardass one that blocks you from seeing the final ending for so long, because you are struggling to defeat him for so long.

Kefka is an insane psychopathic monster who enjoys poisoning innocents, but at least he was nice enough to give you a fun and simple final battle with fantastic music.

Dark Cloud, Zeromus and Ex-Death could learn a lot from him.
Yep the boss music for the final battle was just so awesome. I still don't know Uematsu was able to create epic music like that on such a limited system. Yes it was a fun battle. I remember the first time I faced kefka and facing the other bosses to get to him. I didn't think I was going to do it. Everything about six was great. Now I want to play it again ha.

[maybee]

Idk, I would rather have a fun and simple boss than a complete hardass one that blocks you from seeing the final ending for so long, because you are struggling to defeat him for so long.

Kefka is an insane psychopathic monster who enjoys poisoning innocents, but at least he was nice enough to give you a fun and simple final battle with fantastic music.

Dark Cloud, Zeromus and Ex-Death could learn a lot from him.
Yep the boss music for the final battle was just so awesome. I still don't know Uematsu was able to create epic music like that on such a limited system. Yes it was a fun battle. I remember the first time I faced kefka and facing the other bosses to get to him. I didn't think I was going to do it. Everything about six was great. Now I want to play it again ha.

Uematsu was just SUPER talented


and then the merger happened.... :crying:

[Vyk]

I think I'd probably have to agree, if you had to choose between the last boss being an experience over a challenge, you'd probably want it to be an experience. Though ideally you'd wan tit to feel like both. But at least Kefka feels like a memorable experience. Though for me VI was the first game I ever power-leveled with, and I had 6 or 7 characters at level 99 when i first beat it, so there really wasn't any chance of losing, regardless

[FFNut]

Terra at level 99 with the right Espers at level up with the gem box, and earrings could beat a group of 16 Kefka's easily I'd say. Never really tried that though.

[Christmas]

He sure isn't a pushover in bed. :bigsmile:

[Shaymin]

Calling him a lightweight is a hard call. Im not sure I remember what fighting him without a full party of LV 99s even felt like.

The way the game is designed I guess it's at least feasible you could go straight to Kefka's Tower with the bare minimum of Celes Edgar and Setzer with whatever level you came out of Darryl's Tomb as.

Is he still a pushover with 3 guys in the 40-50 range?

[Bubba]

Yeah I was really overpowered when I faced him for the first time recently. It's the way I like to be when beating a game for the first time. I had everyone at level 60 and everyone knew Ultima. Also, two of them had Economisers and one had the Gem Box. It was horribly one-sided. When I play through again I'll definitely make it a bit more challenging.