niks FF8 Low level, no stat junction, no in battle magic or summoning, challenge.

[nik0tine]

Yeah, so basically I've decided to this challenge for FF8. As far as I know, I came up with this myself, and there isn't a guide on it on the internet anywhere. This, unfortunately, means that it may not be possible. However, at the moment I cannot see why this wouldn't be possible. I am allowed to equip things like str+20% mag+20%, enc none, etc. I'm also allowed to use abilities like Card, Kamikaze, etc. as well as abilities like Auto potion, auto-haste, auto reflect, and what have you. I'll also be able to use magic in the form of magic stones, but I won't be able to cast anything in battle. (Not much of a problem, since I don't ever do that anyway)

The card mod ability should be able to net me items worth using in battle, and if I prepare right, and with a little luck, I fail to see how I can't handle this challenge.

Also, I won't be counting any levels I gain when fighting cactuars. The difference will be far too miniscule to make a difference anyway, and I am not learning all of my abilities using the Quezacotl's card ability. It's just not worth my time.

Some disk one battles that should be extremely difficult: The battle with Diablos, and the Battle with Brothers. Also, Gerogero might prove to be tough if I don't play my cards right.

I am starting now.

[Zeromus_X]

good luck! (you must be a challenge masochist! :O_0;;

[nik0tine]

This is already proving to be tough. Even Ifrit was moderately difficult. I had to calculate his HP in my head, so that I knew when I could deal the finishing blow, since I couldn't use scan. Unfortunatly he almost killed me, so I ended the battle with a little over four minutes remaining. This means that on the seed exam I am only going to get 50 points for the judgement portion of the test. Oh well.

[Necronopticous]

This challenge is absolute proof that God exists, I couldn't ask for better proof that God exists than this challenge as evidence. All you need is eyes that can see and a brain that works.

Good luck.

[Ultima Shadow]

Is "Magic" and "GF" the only commands that are banned? Can you still use, for example, "Draw", "Recover" and "Revive"?

Also... I've always thought low-level challanges in FFVIII would be easier than high-level challanges because of the leveling system... but does certain bosses have a pretty high "minimum level-limmit"? What I'm trying to ask is... will the low-level thingy actually make the challange harder?

Anyways... I would really like to try this challange out myself, but I've just started on a Xenosaga challange so... hmmm... oh, well... I'm pretty sure the Xenosaga challange won't take too long, so I'll try this one out as soon as I've completed the Xenosaga challange as long as something else doesn't get in the way. :greenie:

Oh well... good luck, Nik! :cool:

[nik0tine]

I think the low level thing will make the challenge more difficult. As far as I can tell, it's the extreme highs and lows that increase the difficulty in regards to leveling. Combined with no stat junctioning, a low level game should become very difficult. I cannot do more than 70 damage at this point, and I doubt that I'll be able to do more than 150 tops even with lionheart equipped. I sincerely do think low levels will make this game much harder. The reason a low level game tends to be easier than a high level game is because the enemies stay at low levels with low stats while you get to boost your characters stats with the junction system to an absurd degree. I won't have that advantage in this challenge.

As for commands, I'm considering banning recover and revive, but it all depends on how this challenge goes. I will, however, be able to use commands like Mad Rush, Card, etc. I will also be able to draw because I can refine magic into items.

Edit: I should also point out that in a low level game, my SeeD rank is affected. I won't be able to have a very high seed rank because i won't be able to take any tests to level it up.

[Ultima Shadow]

Yeah, I guess that's true. And since some bosses DOES have a minimum level-limmit, some battles could really get a lot tougher. And like you mentioned, the SeeD rank is affected.

Oh, and when I do this challange I'll absolutely attempt Omega, who gets an extreme advantage because of his permanent level 100. I'm not sure if it will be doable... but I'll definitively try. :cool:

[Shin Gouken]

Oh, and when I do this challange I'll absolutely attempt Omega, who gets an extreme advantage because of his permanent level 100. I'm not sure if it will be doable... but I'll definitively try. :cool:


I would honestly think that it can't be done. Without junctioning stats, and remaining at a low level, you would never reach 9999HP which alone makes it impossible. Then because your defense and magic defense would be supremely low, and omega's attack and magic attack being so high, every attack omega makes would kill you. But you've worked miricles before


Nik: Kamakazi i can see making this challenge somewhat easier. What with you staying on a low level, enemies and bosses HP wouldn't be very high. Kamakazi being able to break the 9999HP limit would perhaps kill most things in one shot. If not, it would still cut down the battle difficulty by half if you use it halfway in

[nik0tine]

That's true. It may be impossible without it though. I'm not going to ban any abilities at this point because I don't know if I absolutely need them or not. I'll try to do most battles without Kamikaze, however.

Edit: Okay, so it seems like this challenge is going to be freaking intense. Elvoret killed me. He won't be such a problem that I can't win, though. I can already see that this challenge is going to be much, much harder than my FFIX challenge.

[Ultima Shadow]

Without junctioning stats, and remaining at a low level, you would never reach 9999HP which alone makes it impossible.Nope, it doesn't. There's still a ways to survive Megido Flame, without having 9999 HP.


Edit: Okay, so it seems like this challenge is going to be freaking intense. Elvoret killed me. He won't be such a problem that I can't win, though. I can already see that this challenge is going to be much, much harder than my FFIX challenge.Awww, crap! I almost want to let the Xenosaga challange wait and start this one at once! :hyper:


Anyways... I've already got a plan for Omega. Normaly, refining the Laguna card into 100 hero's is cheap. But if it's the only way to beat Omega in this challange, then I don't mind. Invincible Moon can also make you invurnable, but you can't rely on it trough this battle at such low levels since just about all Omega's attacks will mean instant-death. And you can't get Invincible Moon 87 times in a row... so you would have to rely on Hero items. Against Terra Break, you can also use Defend. As for dammaging Omega... you could use Rinoa's angel wings + meteor. Quistis "acid" would reduce Omega's defense to 0 and also... doesn't "Homing Laser" do dammage based on the enemy's HP? In that case, you would atleast be able to do 9999 dammage with Quistis.

[TheSpoonyBard]

I can refine magic into items.
No you can't.

Are you allowing Selphie's Slot magic to be used in battle? As you have banned use of magic in battle, are you including all Limit Breaks that cause magic-based damage?

[Shin Gouken]

Anyways... I've already got a plan for Omega. Normaly, refining the Laguna card into 100 hero's is cheap. But if it's the only way to beat Omega in this challange, then I don't mind. Invincible Moon can also make you invurnable, but you can't rely on it trough this battle at such low levels since just about all Omega's attacks will mean instant-death. And you can't get Invincible Moon 87 times in a row... so you would have to rely on Hero items. Against Terra Break, you can also use Defend. As for dammaging Omega... you could use Rinoa's angel wings + meteor. Quistis "acid" would reduce Omega's defense to 0 and also... doesn't "Homing Laser" do dammage based on the enemy's HP? In that case, you would atleast be able to do 9999 dammage with Quistis.


That's a good idea. Lets make ourselves invincible for this "challenge"

[nik0tine]

Are you allowing Selphie's Slot magic to be used in battle? As you have banned use of magic in battle, are you including all Limit Breaks that cause magic-based damage?Yes. Selphie's slot magic is fair game. Also, I'm considering allowing myself to use scan magic. It doesn't cause any damage, and it pretty much wastes a turn. What do you guys think? Should scan be allowed?

Oh yeah, I beat Elvoret last night and escaped Dollet. I trained for a little bit, and then I went to bed. I'll probably be fighting Diablos today.

[Ultima Shadow]

Scan? Uh... why would that be necessary? Sure, it's useful for displaying Boss HP etc... but you can live without that, I guess...

[nik0tine]

It's not necessary at all. I just like using it. I'm not sure if I am going to enable it though.

[Ultima Shadow]

Well, that's the problem with disabling stuff like Magic. It's fun to use.

[nik0tine]

I took Diablos out on my first try. He was surprisingly easy. I still anticipate the brothers to be fairly difficult, though.

[Ultima Shadow]

*tries to predict the hardest boss for every disc (not including Ultima and Omega)*

Disc1: Brothers. There's hardly any really tough bosses on disc1 but I think the Brothers will be far from easy.

Disc2: Cerberus. For some reason, I've just got a feeling that Cerberus will cause some serious trouble.

Disc3: That Prototype-"something" that you fight right before the final battle with Seifer inside the Lunatic Pandora. Adel might be tougher, tough... but my bet's still on that Prototype-thingy.

Disc4: Ultimecia. It's pretty obivious.

[nik0tine]

It appears that disk one is going to be a breeze. I'm hoping that the subsequent disks will be much tougher.

[vampirepiggyhunter7]

Impossible

[nik0tine]

Care to support that claim?

[Zeromus_X]

how many challenges have you done nik0tine? ^^;;

(never in a million years would i try such things!)

[Ultima Shadow]

If it appears to be too easy, you could also ban the upgrading of weapons. With other words, let everyone stick to their first and weakest weapons trough the entire game.

[nik0tine]

how many challenges have you done nik0tine? ^^;;

(never in a million years would i try such things!)
This is only the second challenge that I have ever done.

And Ultima Shadow, I'll definetly consider banning weapon upgrades if the entire thing becomes too easy.

[rubah]

Cerberus isn't a forced battle though, is it?

[nik0tine]

No, it isn't forced, but give me one good reason not to take him on?

[rubah]

Only if it makes it impossible otherwise:]

[nik0tine]

I don't know if it's impossible without him or not, but I most certainly want his Auto Haste ability.

[Cruise Control]

I took Diablos out on my first try.WTF I'm overleveled without handicaps and am getting my arse beat.

[Shin Gouken]

WTF I'm overleveled without handicaps and am getting my arse beat.



I took him on my first time :) Just heal HEAL HEAL!!!!!





I took Diablos out on my first try. He was surprisingly easy. I still anticipate the brothers to be fairly difficult, though.


well done :) The brothers i don't think will be too bad. Just Heal HEAL HEAL!!!! Cerberas however...... well i didn't have a problem when i took him on (all those one times) But i can see him being very difficult when your that badly handicapped.

What other GF's do you plan to obtain? Tonberry might be pretty tough. Bahamut will probabley kick your arse like there's no tomorrow! I'm even thinking cactaur will be a hell of a challenge

[nik0tine]

I plan on obtaining every GF in the game.

Edit: Unfortunately, Squall just leveled up in the Laguna dream sequence. as far as I can see, it's going to be impossible to keep all of my characters at their starting levels for the entire game.

[Ultima Shadow]

How's it going Nik? It has been a while since you updated. :greenie:

Oh, and 1 level more or less won't make any noticable difference.

[nik0tine]

Jeez. I thought I had updated already. Guess not. :p

I haven't played in two days or so, but I'll be getting back into it tomorrow for certain. I beat the brothers, though. They were, by far, the hardest boss I've faced thus far, but they weren't all that difficult. This is too easy, so for now, I am disabling commands like str. 20%, etc.

[Shin Gouken]

Jeez. I thought I had updated already. Guess not. :p

I haven't played in two days or so, but I'll be getting back into it tomorrow for certain. I beat the brothers, though. They were, by far, the hardest boss I've faced thus far, but they weren't all that difficult. This is too easy, so for now, I am disabling commands like str. 20%, etc.


Have a sit and think before you make such a descision :greenie:
You may find that disc one is easy because well....it's disc1!

Like a low level FFV walkthrough. Disc one is insanley easy to finish on levels 1,1,2 and 3. Halfway into world two and BA-BANG oh dear i'm dead

[nik0tine]

I hadn't played in a few days, as usual, but I finished disk one last night. Perhaps this challenge will get tough after all. Edea was moderately challenging, and even the Iguions were tough. BGH251F2 should be really challenging, I think. So will the oilboils, and so will Norg. I also think that the second battle with Edea is going to be tough as well. I'm off to go play right now.

[Ultima Shadow]

Awesome. But I don't recall "Norg" having any really dangerous attacks so I actually don't thing he will be too hard. The second Edea on the other hand... and Cerberus... :greenie:

[nik0tine]

I remember Norg being hard when I first played the game and didn't know how to junction, but then again, so was Diablos, and I offed him in my first try.

Fujin and raijin might be moderately difficult, too.

And I've passed the missle base and BGH251F2 wasn't all that hard. He only beat me once and that's because I made a stupid mistake. I'm in Balamb Garden now, and I carded for fun I attempted to beat a T-Rexaur. I had to use card, though, so I didn't gain exp, and it wasn't difficult in the least bit. I'll be fighting the Oilboils within the hour, probably, unless I quit and do something else.

[TheSpoonyBard]

Use the fact that Raijin doesn't attack women to your advantage.

[nik0tine]

He attacks them if the men are dead.

[Shin Gouken]

He attacks them if the men are dead.


Did you just find out the hard way :p

[nik0tine]

haha, I found out the hard way a few years back.

I'm fighting oilboils now. This challenge just officially got hard. They've beat me four or five times within a ten minute period.

Edit: holy.. /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif... This is boss fight alone is harder than any boss in the FFIX challenge, including Ozma. Hell, this fight might be more challenging than the entire FFIX challenge put together. The Oilboils have a /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gifload of HP. I haven't even killed one of them yet. Their attacks cast Darkness, and they can cast curse, which pretty much means certain death since these guys are practically unbeatable without limit breaks. Perhaps I am going about this the wrong way, though. Does anybody have any strategy suggestions for me? Currently I have Zell using defend, and healing if he ever gets the chance, and rinoa attacks and heals, while squall attacks unless i'm about to lose.

I don't think I've lasted much more than 5 minutes against these guys.

Double Edit: Holy fuck! I did it! I managed to beat them. Everything in that battle went right for me. I just got fucking lucky. They didn't use sonic wave once, and I somehow managed to survive all of thier other attacks. I'm fresh out of phoenix downs, though. I hope norg wont be too tough, becuase if he is, my limited resources might make him impossible.

[Ultima Shadow]

Ah... so it's finally getting interesting, eh? Awesome. :p

[Shin Gouken]

LOL i'm a bit late for the strategy advice. Looks like you wiped them out though, good stuff.

I forget what you can and cant do. Yes to in battle abilities and items but no to magic, summons, out of battle abilities and weapon upgrades yeah? Can you use magic out of battle? Does using items in battle to cast magic count as a magic cast?

[Ultima Shadow]

Hey how's it going, Nik? Still too busy with other things?

[Zeromus_X]

yeah, nik0tine (now apparently "Green Lighter" ?), did you take a break or something? :cat:

(posted for visibility basically...) :choc2:

[nik0tine]

Uhh.. yeah, a break. :p

I'm considering giving this challenge up, because I can already see that every boss battle is going to become a test of how fast I can use renzokuken.

Actually no, I won't give it up just yet. I still plan on continuing.

[Ultima Shadow]

I'm considering giving this challenge up, because I can already see that every boss battle is going to become a test of how fast I can use renzokuken.
How fast you can use Renzokuken? Please, explain. Doesn't any other command matter? :p

[nik0tine]

No. No commands make a difference, at least not that I've seen, except for the item command, and that's only when I'm dead. (Well, other limit breaks matter. I was just using renzokuken as a kind of adverb for all limit breaks)

[Ultima Shadow]

Awww, that sucks. Maybe allowing "Magic", but not "GF" would have been a good idea? You could make up for that by not upgrading weapons etc.

[nik0tine]

Perhaps that would have helped. (I haven't upgraded any weapons yet though, except for Quistis', but that was before I disabled weapon upgrades). I can't imagine using any type of magic other than perhaps Aura, though, which would kinda defeat the purpose. :p

[Ultima Shadow]

Hmmm... the weird thing is that, in my "command junctioning only (and all that other stuff) challange", commands could be extremely useful. Could it really just simply be so that the fact that you're at low levels makes the commands useless? This is weird. How much HP do your characters have? How many average hits can you take from bosses at this point in the game?

[Jushuku Yomide]

Brave. I just read the entire thread and am now, officially...Rooting for you.

Anyway. Disc 2 is going to be a Mother****er. I had enough trouble beating Seifer with a fully upgraded party and nice Lv.20 average between all three of my party members.

Edea is naturally going to be crazily hard to defeat as she's got those lovely, Gravity-magic type attacks that will deplete your health way too fast, nevermind the fact that a very tired, but yet kinda difficult Seifer precedes the battle with Edea

Good luck, man.

[nik0tine]

I stopped this challenge about 8 minutes too soon. I picked it up again today and I cannot emphasize how difficult the battle with Fujin and Raijin is. I just got pwned.

Edit: I'm considering enabling weapon upgrades. What do you all think?

I guess if I'm going to try Ultima and Omega I'll have to upgrade my weapons. I just don't see how it's possible otherwise.

[Ultima Shadow]

I stopped this challenge about 8 minutes too soon. I picked it up again today and I cannot emphasize how difficult the battle with Fujin and Raijin is. I just got pwned.

Edit: I'm considering enabling weapon upgrades. What do you all think?

I guess if I'm going to try Ultima and Omega I'll have to upgrade my weapons. I just don't see how it's possible otherwise.
First I'll just have to say: Wow, FINALLY an update! Try to keep it up this time. :greenie:

As for Ultima and Omega... or at least for Omega... upgraded weapons will hardly make any difference. You'll probably have to rely on Angel Wings and Homing Laser for dammage, not Renzokuken. At least that's what I belive.

Anyways... if you want to enable weapons, then do so. :cool:

[nik0tine]

I can understand angel wing, but why homing laser? I seldom use it. Does it have special attributes that ignore defence or something?

[TheSpoonyBard]

Homing Laser has no special properties that I know of. Its just a regular magical attack.

[Ultima Shadow]

Well, I actually don't know either. :p

I only know that on level 99, without any status effecting junctioning it still always did 9999 dammage against Omega. And since the mag stat really wasn't all that high without status junctioning... I don't know if it's as effective on low levels, though. :p

However... phsycical attacks will most likely be completely useless.

[nik0tine]

Well, I beat Fujin and Raijin on my fourth try. I had the fight won on my third try, but I got cocky I lost the fight within a few minutes. I ended up winning with a good strategy, though. I had Zell equipped with Defend, Cover, and recover. I had him defend for the majority of the battle. Raijin seems to attack Zell more than anybody else, and so a good 2/3rds of Raijins attacks were wasted in this battle. When someone got low on HP Zell's recover ability would almost always kick in, but Zell would still take zero damage. With this setup I was able to pound both Fujin and Raijin into the ground with Renzokuken after Renzokuken. Selphie was my secondary healer. She's use potions and full-cure when she got the chance. I also had her equipped with auto-reflect, so every once and a while an aero spell would reflect off of her and smack Raijin for a good 160+ damage.



I'm supposed to be heading to the orphanage now, but I'm going to make a stop near cactuar Island and learn some abilities, mainly initiative and absorb. I also might try to get tonberry right now but I'm a little worried about getting Odin. I wouldn't want to end up in a random battle and have Odin come win it for me.

[Zeromus_X]

About Homing Laser: my level 50s Quistis uses it, and sometimes it does straight 9s, other times it only does a few thousand. (On a meltdowned Omega Weapon, mind you.) This makes me wonder if theres some formula for it's damage? Meh.

Can't you not get Odin therefore

Seifer doesn't kill him, so you don't get Gilgamesh either?

And, what about Tonberry? Or are you going to bother to get that summon? (For the shop abilities mostly.):choc2:

[Masamune·1600]

Concerning Homing Laser, the ability does not deal damage as a percentage of HP. I'm not completely sure of the formula, but the discrepancy Lookout Zeromus_X noticed might be the result of Quistis' Crisis Level (the determining factor for how many slashes Squall gets with Renzokuken, and so on). In the case of Quistis, this can dramatically affect the potency of her Blue Magic.

Anyway, nik, I wish you the best of luck with this challenge, and hope to see frequent updates.

[TheSpoonyBard]

I don't know any formula for damage, but I know that Quistis' Blue Magics are more effective if she has a higher Crisis Level. Damage-dealing attacks will be more powerful, Bad Breath will cause more statuses, etc.

[nik0tine]

Can't you not get Odin therefore

Spoiler: Seifer doesn't kill him, so you don't get Gilgamesh either?

And, what about Tonberry? Or are you going to bother to get that summon? (For the shop abilities mostly.)I think Gilgamesh actually might be a big help. I decided to get Odin anyway. I'll just be certain to always keep Enc-None on.
As for Tonberry, I am definetly going to try to get him. I've currently killed 7 or so Tonberries and I'm working on the rest. With no junctions and such low levels it takes a long time to kill a tonberry.

[Zeromus_X]

I'd imagine so, without any gravity magic:eep: ...

How are you killing most things?! Limit Break spamming? :cat:

[nik0tine]

I'd imagine so, without any gravity magic:eep: ...

How are you killing most things?! Limit Break spamming? :cat:
Well, to tell you the truth I'm not killing anything other than bosses. Except for Cactuars and tonberries that is.

I seldom use gravity magic against Tonberries in normal games anyway, though. Limit break spamming is the way to go with the tonberries. it makes things go quicker. Right now I'm hitting them hard with renzokuken and selphies slot, while Irvine uses Defend and has cover equipped (so when they get close they cant hurt me.) After I deal a decent amount of damage I start to use the card command and I turn the tonberries into cards. It seems to be quicker than killing them outright.

I have enabled stat bonus abilities such as str. +20% etc. for battles with tonberries and cactuars because it's just taking too damn long otherwise.

[Ramza Beoulve]

Wow, I finished reading the post, YOU ARE MY HERO!, you can do it, you got yourself another fan :), also, no gravity magic, WAY TO GO, I need to try it too :D

[nik0tine]

Wow, I finished reading the post, YOU ARE MY HERO!, you can do it, you got yourself another fan :), also, no gravity magic, WAY TO GO, I need to try it too :D
:D

[nik0tine]

Update.

Holy /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif. Cerberus looks impossible. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to beat him. He did three tornados in a row (one tornado wiped out squall and selphie in one hit) If anyone has any strategys they will be warmly welcomed.

I also got tonberry king. Unfortunately, it wasnt until after I carded thirty tonberries that I realized that you actually have to kill them to get him to show up. That kinda blew.

[Ramza Beoulve]

Wow, you're talking about Cerberus, the one who can cast Triple without trouble, and the only way I know is use Dispel, but for the meanings of the challenge, umm, kinda difficult, if you can use limits, then use Selphie's (only if you can) or the ever confiable Renzokuken and you could also use the Draw command (thing I don't recommend, if you want this to be a real challenge :))

[nik0tine]

Thanks for your advice, shadowcrono. However, it came a few minutes too soon. Cerberus is actually one of the easiest bosses in this challenge. (and no, I cannot cast dispel)

I stumbled upon one of the best strategies I've ever seen. I call it the Auto-Reflect/Dispel strategy. I had Auto-Reflect equipped on Zell and things were looking grim. Both squall and selphie were dead and cerberus had already casted triple on himself. Cerberus then used thundaga and it reflected off of Zell. Cerberus absorbed the attack, of course, but what happened was that Cerberus realized Zell had reflect, and so he became determined to get rid of it. The thing is, Auto-Reflect does not disapear when dispel is used. So cerberus begins using Dispel over and over again while I had Zell use phoenix downs. From here on out, the vast majority of Cerberus' attacks was dispel. He also used Silence a bunch, but not as much as dispel. He occasionally use his tail whip attack, but that wasnt enough to kill one party member. So I had Selphie use full-cure and squall used Darkside (500 damage. Cerberus has low vitality, apparently) until Squall had low HP. Then I pummeled him with Renzokuken while selphie did whatever she could. I had Zell use defend so that he couldn't be hurt by Cerberus' tail whip attack, which ensured that cerberus would always want to cast dispel, even if everyone else died. With this strategy Cerberus was dead in a matter of minutes.

Now I just have to battle Seifer and Edea and then I'm finished with disk 2. I also am beginning to wonder if this newfound Auto-Reflect strategy will work against other enemies. Edea is known to cast dispel, so perhaps she will occupy her time with Dispel magic.

[Ramza Beoulve]

Well done, yup, Cerberus has low vitality, but be aware of Edea, I used the Auto-Reflect strategy on her, and then two things can happen, she starts use a lot of dispels, or she starts use Maelstrom like there is no tomorrow, I don't remember if last one was reflected (two years from last time I played the game :(). The both are just perfect strategy to battle her, but Maelstrom will let you at low level for a physical attack. Anyway, you can give it a try, because the auto-reflect strategy is one of the best versus magical enemies :)

[nik0tine]

I completed disk 2 at exactly 12:00 am.

The Auto-Reflect strategy is a no go against Edea. She justs casts reflect on herself. She wasn't too hard, though. I beat her on my second try. Maelstrom is a bitch, becuase it casts curse, which means not only am I at low HP, but I cant use limit breaks either. I managed though, and now I should probably go to bed.

[boys from the dwarf]

*tries to predict the hardest boss for every disc (not including Ultima and Omega)*

Disc1: Brothers. There's hardly any really tough bosses on disc1 but I think the Brothers will be far from easy.

Disc2: Cerberus. For some reason, I've just got a feeling that Cerberus will cause some serious trouble.

Disc3: That Prototype-"something" that you fight right before the final battle with Seifer inside the Lunatic Pandora. Adel might be tougher, tough... but my bet's still on that Prototype-thingy.

Disc4: Ultimecia. It's pretty obivious.
brothers and ceberus are optional bosses so they wont be much trouble .

[nik0tine]

They weren't much trouble at all. I challenged both of them and won quite easily.

[Ultima Shadow]

DOH! My predictions have all been wrong so far! >_<

..even though my prediction SEEMED to be right about Cerberus until you found out about that Auto-Reflect strat. ;)

Anyways... good job and nice to see some serious updates. Keep it up!

ps: See? It's not all about Limmibreaks (having the cerberus battle in mind). :p

[Ramza Beoulve]

Well, my prediction about Maelstrom was true :), good luck in Disc 3

[nik0tine]

I'm in Esthar right now, chasing Lunatic Pandora. I can't imagine that there could be any difficult enemies in disk 3.

[Ramza Beoulve]

No, in reality 3rd disc is the easiest one :)

[-N-]

As always, the challenge threads are the most interesting parts of the gaming forums. I remember reading this before and about to suggest you enable commands when my computer froze. In any case, I'm posting now. Good luck with the rest of this one.

I'm tempted to do an FFT Auto-Battle challenge, but I remember how boring Auto-Battling is and how I have other things to do with life at the moment. :p

[Ultima Shadow]

I'm in Esthar right now, chasing Lunatic Pandora. I can't imagine that there could be any difficult enemies in disk 3.It seems like my predictions are bound to be wrong, but I still belive that Fujin and Raijin (inside Lunatic Pandora), that Prototype8-thingy and Adel all can be pretty tough to take down.

[nik0tine]

I picked up the challenge again and I've just beaten Jumbo Cactuar. I didn't have the Lionheart and I couldn't summon leviathan or use water magic, nor could I cast Meltdown. I was afraid that he was going to run away because I couldn't do enough damage. Luckily he went down on my first try with relative ease.

Now I am going to try to get Bahamut and Eden, but I need the Lionheart. Does anyone know where I can get energy crystals without leveling up? (Can I card the Elnoyle in Esthar?) I don't really want to play cards to get these, but I will if I have to. Also, where can I get dragon fangs? I fought a few blue dragons, but they didn't drop any and now I'm worried that blue dragons might not drop dragon fangs at low levels like this.

Edit: I can't remember if you can steal dragon fangs or not. Can you?

[Zeromus_X]

I think Grendels drop them, but I'm not sure what level. Well, I'm not sure if they do at all...It's been ahwile :cat:

[nik0tine]

I'm pretty sure they don't. Grendels drop dragon skin, though, I think.

[TheSpoonyBard]

Unfortunately, the only way to get any item that refines into Pulse Ammo without playing cards is by being over Lv30. Behemoths and Elnoyles drop Energy Crystals at those levels. Elnoyles are immune to Lv Up.

You can get Dragon Fangs from Blue Dragons, Grendels, Hexadragons, and SAM08Gs as low-level drops/rare drops, but you can't steal them.

[Ultima Shadow]

Well... I see no reason why shouldn't be able to card the Elnoyle in esthar. Also... I'm not sure, but... don't you get Energy Crystals when you steal from Elnoyle's?

Dragon Fangs are trickier as I don't think there are any cards that can be refined into those. I guess you should try stealing from Blue Dragons, though. But I don't remember whenever you get Dragon Fangs or just Fury Fragments.

Oh and are you SURE that you will need Lionheart? I mean... why shouldn't it be possible without it? :greenie:

[Zeromus_X]

Yeah, can't Duel be used instead? You could Armageddon Fist things...Well, without Meltdown it'd do less, but still. :cat:

(I had the Brady guide for this game too, but I don't know where it is now :eep:)

[nik0tine]

Unfortunately, the only way to get any item that refines into Pulse Ammo without playing cards is by being over Lv30. Behemoths and Elnoyles drop Energy Crystals at those levels. Elnoyles are immune to Lv Up.The Elnoyle has to be at level 30?


Dragon Fangs are trickier as I don't think there are any cards that can be refined into those. I guess you should try stealing from Blue Dragons, though. But I don't remember whenever you get Dragon Fangs or just Fury Fragments.I've already tried. Stealing only nets you fury fragments.

I guess I could use duel, but the thing is, why not use duel and renzokuken? Irvines shot is almost as affective as Renzokuken as well.

I'm planning things out in my head now for the battle with Bahamut. As far as I can tell I absolutely NEED Irvine for that battle. Without dark shot I won't be able to blind Bahamut, and without blind I'll be in a world of hurt. The big problem with Bahamut is his Mega Flare attack, though. Does that count as a physical attack? If not, Defend won't work and it might be able to wipe me out in one hit. I don't know how much damage it will do, though. His tornado attack will also be a huge problem for me. He is the only enemy I've fought thus far that has two attacks that hit all of my party members at one time, and it hits them all hard. I may be able to remedy this, however, by equipping everyone with auto potion and stocking up on high potions.

[Ultima Shadow]

Isn't Squall's second best weapon enough? I mean... sure, it's nothing compared to Lionheart... but it should still be good enough.

Also, just in case you didn't know this already, Quistis's "Acid" limmit break causes the Meltdown effect... so that might be useful.

I'm pretty sure that Mega Flare is magic-based.

[nik0tine]

The problem with Quistis' acid is that it's her only useful attack. Once I use acid she'll only be useful for absorbing damage.

I have to beat Bahamut before he uses Mega Flare. I just fought him and mega flare does 3,000+ damage to all of my characters. The highest amount of HP any of my characters has right now is around 800. I'm really at a loss here. I don't know how to beat him. If I have someone defending it will at least reduce the damage, but thats still a good 1500+ damage and none of my characters can take that.

I just realized that perhaps I could substitute Irvine for Quistis. I could have her use bad breath first, and acid second. I could have her in the middle and give her defend and cover, plus the recover and revive abilities. With her in the middle and defending I may not even need to use blind, since his physical attacks won't do any damage. The problem of Mega flare still remains, however.

I don't know if I should use Rinoa's Angel Wing or if I should use Angelo. The only magic that Rinoa has is meteor, and since the computer is casting the magic for me it's legit. However, Invincible Moon has been known to save my ass countless times.

If anybody could contribute strategies I'd appreciate it.

[TheSpoonyBard]

The Elnoyle has to be at level 30?
Yes, at least.

Mega Flare is magic based, but it ignores SPR. It can be reduced with Shell and Defend.

[Zeromus_X]

Wait, Mega-Flare cannot be reflected in this game? Just for clarification. :cat:

[nik0tine]

Yeah, that much I do know. :p

Edit: I beat Bahamut. I gave Rinoa Auto-Reflect and Auto Haste used an Aura stone and put her in Angel Wing status. Quistis Blinded Bahamut and Squall used Renzokuken. It didn't matter though because Rinoa was doing 3,000+ damage per turn and she got her turns very quickly. Bahamut was dead long before he could ever use Mega Flare. Now I'm going to face off with Ultima Weapon. Wish me luck.

[Zeromus_X]

Oh god. I had a hard time with that thing all Junctioned and what-not..:cat:

Well...godspeed!! :cat: :choc2: (Would you say this would be the most difficult battle of your challenge so far?)

[nik0tine]

No, not even close. Nothing has yet to compare with the oilboils. I didn't last five minutes against those things. In all reality I just beat them due to sheer luck. The battle with the oilboils was probably harder than any battle in the FFIX challenge.

Edit: nahh, actually I think it warrants an update.

[nik0tine]

Okay, what the hell is it that renders enc-none useless in the deep sea research facility? I've played this game countless times, but onky the last two games I've played has enc none not worked down there. Why doesn't it work? What do I have to do to get it to work? I just spent an hour trying to get to ultima weapon, and when I was a good inch away from the screen leading up to Ultima I encountered two Iron giants and died. Needless to say, I'm really smurfing irritated. I just want to know why Enc none doesn't work down there, since for the past 6 or 7 years of my life it always has. Something has to trigger it and I'd like to know what.

[Ultima Shadow]

The problem with Quistis' acid is that it's her only useful attack. Once I use acid she'll only be useful for absorbing damage.20 Behemoth Cards= Barrier= Mighty Guard= Kick Ass

I'm sure White Wind could be pretty useful as well. :greenie:


Anyways... so it's finally time for Ultima Weapon? :love:

Well, nope. Enc-None does not work in this place. I even think there's a set amount of battles on the way down, but I'm not sure. Anyways... with the Level Down ability of the Tonberry GF, I guess you could prevent getting any serious amounts of EXP in these battles as well as prevent getting KOed all the time... but yeah, I'm not sure if it will work on everything you'll face on your way down or even if the amount of EXP will be low enough.

[TheSpoonyBard]

Enc-None does remove the random encounters from the DSRC, but does not remove the fixed battles. The only way to remove these fixed battles is to defeat Ultima Weapon. Most people choose not to defeat Ultima as you can use the fixed battles to gain large amounts of Curse Spikes (Dark Matter, Rosetta Stone, Shaman Stone, Luck-J Scroll, Luck Up) and Barriers (Aegis Amulet).

[Zeromus_X]

Yeah, I got pissed off about that too. What triggers the battles, those glowing crystals? :cat:

[nik0tine]

Enc-None does remove the random encounters from the DSRC, but does not remove the fixed battles. The only way to remove these fixed battles is to defeat Ultima Weapon. Most people choose not to defeat Ultima as you can use the fixed battles to gain large amounts of Curse Spikes (Dark Matter, Rosetta Stone, Shaman Stone, Luck-J Scroll, Luck Up) and Barriers (Aegis Amulet).Fixed battles? What fixed battles are you talking about? The battles I'm fighting seem quite random. (Plus I've never had to deal with an 'fixed' battles before)

[TheSpoonyBard]

Do you notice that the battles occur in almost the same place every time you run through the screen? That's because they're 'fixed'.

[nik0tine]

How come they never happened before when I played? There has to be something that triggers these battles becuase I've done this countless times and I've never had to deal with them.

[Shin Gouken]

When i ventured down there, i fought a battle every other step i took! Quite irritating really.

[nik0tine]

It is irritating. However, I've managed to make it down there, and Ultima weapon is no pushover. I was under the impression that if I was at a low level Ultima would not have a Quack attack but that is obviously not the case. I'm not exactly certain how to beat it yet. If I don't have shell equipped Quake kills everyone instantly. If I am not at full HP Quake kills everyone instantly. I haven't even seen what it's meteor can do, yet. I haven't lasted that long. I do have a few Heros that I may be able to use, though.

The only battle plan I have as of right now is to have Squall and Quistis heal nonstop (after mighty guard is cast) while I put Rinoa in aura status with a holy stone and then use angel wing. I don't know how to stay alive long enough to survive, though.

Strategies are welcome.

[TheSpoonyBard]

I know it's cheap, but you could go with Holy War (refine Gilgamesh card) and Aura Stones.

[nik0tine]

I know it's cheap, but you could go with Holy War (refine Gilgamesh card) and Aura Stones.
Well, I figure Ultima is beatable without holy wars, and I might need them for Omega. I'm trying to save all of my resources for Omega weapon.

[nik0tine]

Ladies, Gentlemen, this is an update!

nik has done it again! I just freaking pwned Ultima Weapon. He wasn't really that difficult once you get the strategy right. I didn't have to use a single hero. Basically what I did is this: Everyone was equipped with initiative, so I get the first three turns. Squall immediately uses an Aura stone on Rinoa. Next up is Quistis, who is has low health. She uses Mighty gaurd. The important spells that it casts for this battle are haste, float, and shell. Float renders Ultimas Quake spell useless, and that is by far his nastiest move. Shell pretty much ensures that his meteor attack won't wipe me out.
Now it's Rinoas turn, and she is in Aura status with Full health. She uses Angel wing. Now it's Ultimas turn. He can either waste his turn with Quake (which he wont do) or he can use Gravijaa, in which case I am in trouble because I must heal immediately. He can also use light pillar, which is a bitch if he uses it on Rinoa (he didnt) or he can waste his turn using it on Quistis or squall. I just revive them. I believe he hit me with his sword, though, and that didn't do anything. It's Squalls turn again and I had him use renzokuken because mighty gaurd put him in aura status. Squall later draws Eden when aura runs out. As soon as quistis gets a turn she uses acid. This brings the damage from rinoas meteors from slightly less than 500 per meteor to slightly over 900 damage per meteor. At this point all I had to do was keep myself alive. It probably would have been smart to use a hero on Rinoa, but I didn't think of it at the time. Rinoa just pounded him while I struggled to keep everyone alive and healthy, and in a few short minutes Ultima Weapon was dead.

[Zeromus_X]

Congratulations!! :) :cat:

Do you think any future battles (bar Omega) will be extremely difficult?

[nik0tine]

The Final Battle will be very difficult.

[Shin Gouken]

Hey nice work son :) I couldn't think how to get by this battle, though i'm not surprised that you prevailed :D

I agree with the final battle too. Got any ideas how you might survive Shockwave pulsar? Shell just won't reduce the damage by enough to stop your entire party being wiped out. Maybe save a Holy war for that one :S I'm sure you can do it.

Omega is obviously your main concern :cool:

[Ultima Shadow]

Congratulations! But how did you make it all the way down? Did you just somehow avoid getting into any battle, or did you use Level Down on the enemies etc? :greenie:

Anyways... I guess the only really, really tough battles that are left now are Ultimecia and Omega. :cool:

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

is there any boss you haven't beaten yet?

[Mirage]

He hasn't entered the final dungeon yet, so all those.

[nik0tine]

Congratulations! But how did you make it all the way down? Did you just somehow avoid getting into any battle, or did you use Level Down on the enemies etc? :greenie:

Anyways... I guess the only really, really tough battles that are left now are Ultimecia and Omega. :cool:
I had Quistis use Bad breath and then I used level down on all of the enemies until I had them at level one. At level one all enemies give you one experience point. I then had Quistis use degenerator to end it. (although if there were two enemies Quistis would use micro missiles on one of them a few times and then Rinoa would use card)

[nik0tine]

I'm in Lunatic Pandora now. I beat Fujin and Raijin. They weren't too difficult. The real problem is Mobile Type 8. You can't spam limit breaks in this battle because he is guaranteed to counterattack. I don't have lionheart, so Renzokuken is pretty much useless. Rinoas Angel wing would be great, but I can use it only once and then she is dead. Of course, attacking is the least of my worries. Corona reduces my HP to one, and I need to heal quickly before he wipes me out by attacking normally or by using megiddo flame. Megiddo Flame will kill everyone unless they are in defend status and have shell on. Irvine has the most HP right now (about 800) and I am using him to defend with auto shell equipped on him.

Strategies, as always, are welcome.

[Ultima Shadow]

Hmmm... then, maybe my prediction for CD 3's hardest battle was correct atleast. :greenie:

Anyways... as for strat... I don't remember much of this battle, actually but... does Mobiletype 8 counter all attacks or Limmitbreaks only? And how many of those counter-lasers can you take before you die?

Also, what characters do you use? I guess Rinoa's invincible moon could be useful. Especially if you use Angel Wings on Rinoa's next turn which allows her to cast meteor without being killed by the counter-laser.

[nik0tine]

Anyways... as for strat... I don't remember much of this battle, actually but... does Mobiletype 8 counter all attacks or Limmitbreaks only? And how many of those counter-lasers can you take before you die?He counters all attacks. It depends on what "form" he is in though. If he is about to use corona he uses homing laser twice which does about 250 damage each. I can survive that. (But that tends to a character because by then I have low HP) If I attack him in regular form he does about 700+ damage and only Irvine can survive that, and just barely.


Also, what characters do you use? I guess Rinoa's invincible moon could be useful. Especially if you use Angel Wings on Rinoa's next turn which allows her to cast meteor without being killed by the counter-laser.The problem with this is that Invincible moon is not guaranteed. If, say, I get Angelo Cannon instead I'm fucked. Also, when Rinoa casts meteor she still gets hit with a counter attack. If she is at low HP and mobile type 8 is in corona mode she dies and then the other counter attack will get sent to another person.

[TheSpoonyBard]

The problem with this is that Invincible moon is not guaranteed. If, say, I get Angelo Cannon instead I'm smurfed.
Did you make a point to learn nothing but Invincible Moon?

[nik0tine]

Yes, I did. Rinoa starts with Angelo Cannon though, and you can't get rid of it. She uses it frequently, too. (I did not learn Angelo Strike or Wishing Star, but I did learn things like Angelo search, recover, and reverse. Those shouldn't affect anything, though)

[TheSpoonyBard]

Hmm... Would she still use Angelo Cannon as frequently if she's at a higher Crisis Level?

[nik0tine]

I have no idea, actually.

[Ultima Shadow]

The problem with this is that Invincible moon is not guaranteed. If, say, I get Angelo Cannon instead I'm smurfed. Also, when Rinoa casts meteor she still gets hit with a counter attack. If she is at low HP and mobile type 8 is in corona mode she dies and then the other counter attack will get sent to another person.Yeah, I know that her meteor gets countered, as you mentioned that earlier. What I meant was... it wouldn't affect her since she would be invincible after using Invincible Moon. :greenie:

It sounds, to me, like the key to win this battle actually could be to get invincible moon while your party is low at HP and then spam limmitbreaks like crazy. Also, maybe you should use Quistis instead of Irvine? Her Mighty Guard may be pretty useful, as well as Acid since meltdown makes Meteor do a lot more dammage.

Also, since the effectiveness of Squall's, Zell's and Irvine's Limmitbreaks all depends on how critical their condition is, I guess the same could go for Rinoa. Like... the less HP she has left, the higher the chanses of getting a better move with Angelo.

[Mirage]

If you're lucky, you could get aura from mighty guard, then bev lucky again and get invincible moon. As far as I know, your status can't change at all when invincible, meaning aura stays up until invincibility wears off. You'd need a lot of luck, but it could work.

[nik0tine]

Okay, so I beat Mobile Type 8, finally. This battle was incredibly fun, since it relies so heavily on timing and strategy. Rinoa and Irvine are both equipped with the defend abilities. Irvine has Auto Shell and Rinoa has Auto Haste. As soon as the battle starts Squall and Irvine attack Rinoa and bring her to low HP. I then wait for Irvine's ATB gauge to get almost full and then I have Rinoa use Angel Wing. Irvine immediately uses recover on Rinoa and Squall uses a shell stone on her. She can now survive two hits from Twin Homing Laser. Rinoa proceeds to pound mobile type 8 into the ground with meteor twice. She has auto haste so my characters can't heal her before she uses meteor a second time and thusly, Rinoa dies. Irvine then uses revive on Rinoa. About the exact same time as this Mobile type 8 switches attack modes. Rinoa and Irvine defend while Squall uses a shell stone on Rinoa and then tries to steal laser cannons from mobile type 8 (if you attack the main part of him when he splits into three he does not counter attack) . Then Corona is used. Irvine uses Recover on himself, Squall uses a Hi-Potion on Rinoa. As soon as Irvine gets another turn you must put him back into defend mode. Squall has low HP, but since Irvine is in the middle and has the cover ability Squall will not get hurt until Mediggo flame is used. Irvine doesn't take any damage while covering him because he is in defend status. It's too dangerous for Squall to use limit breaks at this point, because I can't risk getting a finishing blow that hits everyone, because mobile type 8 will counter attack twice and the second counter attack will hit someone else, and they need as much HP as possible. Instead I had Squall use holy stones and flare stones. It does more damage than renzokuken anyway, because Renzokuken can be used only once before Squall is killed. I can usually get in two holys/flares before mediggo flame is used. Once mediggo flame is used Irvine uses revive on squall and then Squall attacks Rinoa. Rinoa uses Angel Wing and Irvine recovers Rinoa. After that, the battle repeats itself. I just use the same strategy over and over until he (or, in most cases I) die.

So there we have it. The battle was a bitch, especially since Rinoas Meteor attacked 3 people instead of one, which means my best offensive character was 2/3rds less useful than she was before. Strategy is all I needed, though. Once I figured out how to beat him I didn't need invincible moon or the luck that came with it.

I also beat Seifer. He was a joke. Gilgamesh made short work of him. Now I'm on disk four, getting ready to fight Adel.

[Ultima Shadow]

Wow, good job! And I'm glad to hear that you didn't need to use Invincible Moon!

Oh yeah... and I forgot that Adel was on disc 4, not disc 3. So... I guess Mobile Type 8 was the hardest boss on disc 3, right? :cool:

Oh, and Quistis's Mighty Guard will probably be useful against Adel. Adel can cast Quake, after all (I'm not sure if she can use it at this low level, though... but since Ultima Weapon could, I guess she can as well).

[Ramza Beoulve]

Yeah, she can, but still Float can take that easily, the real problem here is that you cannot use Angel Wing like always

[TheSpoonyBard]

nik can't use Float as that is 'in battle magic'. Good luck with Adel. It should be quite fun, seeing as you can't cast Regen on Rinoa.

[Ramza Beoulve]

Yup, a epic battle comes...

[Deathwake]

Man you guys are to good i got my final fantasy and my psx died i didnt got the chance to kill omgea and ultimecia :S
now the damn thing will do everything only ending battles doesn't work

i am getting the real FFVIII now and play the game with my ps2 :D hopefully it will work and il be able to beat the game a couple of times :D
pointing at the first page of the topic :P

[Zeromus_X]

Hey nik, are you going to write a guide on this or something? :cat:

[Ultima Shadow]

It should be quite fun, seeing as you can't cast Regen on Rinoa.He can, however, use Recover on her.

[Shin Gouken]

It should be quite fun, seeing as you can't cast Regen on Rinoa.He can, however, use Recover on her.


That'll take away a players turn everytime your forced to use it. If Adel absorbs once a turn and nik uses recover once a turn then effectively niks losing one character in this battle seeing as they are there to consistantly heal Rinoa

[Ultima Shadow]

That'll take away a players turn everytime your forced to use it. If Adel absorbs once a turn and nik uses recover once a turn then effectively niks losing one character in this battle seeing as they are there to consistantly heal RinoaWhy use Recover once a turn? You only need to use it 1 or 2 turns before Adel has absorbed so much HP from Rinoa that she'll die the next time Adel uses Absorb.

[Shin Gouken]

Tbh i forgot what sort of damage Adel does to Rinoa. And how much HP Rinoa has in this battle

[nik0tine]

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire" kind of sums up what's just happened to me. Adel is freaking ridiculous. She's the hardest boss in this challenge thus far. Hell, she's ten times harder than Ultima Weapon. She's absolutely blowing me out of the water. I don't even stand a chance against her. She starts off using Meteor, which kills everyone but Irvine. If I'm lucky I'm able to get Quistis to use Mighty Gaurd and that may save someone. However, I'm not safe for very long. Her Quake spell is guaranteed to wipe me out unless I have float, but mighty guard doesn't always cast float. (In fact, it seems that the rate in which it does cast float has decreased since the battle with Ultima Weapon)

The problem is that Adel moves so fast I never get a chance to attack. Not to mention the fact that she is constantly healing herself. Rinoa has a good deal of HP, around 6,000. Adel uses absorb and takes 500 or so damage from rinoa, so I definetly don't need to heal rinoa every other turn. I've also found that Quistis' Homing Laser does a good 2,100 damage to Adel, but I'm usually so busy staying alive that I never get a chance to use it.

What Items teach a GF Auto-Shell? I'm considering having everyone equipped with Auto Shell so that instead of using Mighty Gaurd every other turn (since every other turn someone is dead) and I can just focus on attacking.

I need strategies for this one, guys. This makes the level one Ozma challenge look like a complete joke.

[nik0tine]

Update: Adel has been beaten.

Seriously. I got extremely lucky and took her down in four hits. I didn't get a chance for Quistis to use Mighty Guard at the beginning of the battle, so when Adel used Meteor I was certain that the battle was going to end. Thankfully I didn't restart. For some reason, most of the damage was focused on Irvine, and everyone was left alive. Quistis had four HP and was in Aura status. (Squall has initiative and his first action is to use Aura stone on Quistis) I used homing laser which did 9,999 damage because of Quistis' extremely low HP. I had Squall then use a Mega potion and I had Irvine use AP ammo on Adel. Everyone is at full health and Adel wastes a turn using flare on Quistis. Quistis has Auto-Reflect so it bounces right back and hits her. It's Quistis' turn and she is still in Aura status so I use mighty gaurd, and I got lucky. Float, Haste, and Aura got cast on everyone. I was just in time, too because soon afterwards Adel used Quake which would have wiped my entire party out because nobody was defending. However, it did zero damage due to float status. Irvine uses AP ammo again which probably dealt a good 2000 damage to Adel. Quistis then used homing laser, dealing over 4,000 damage to Adel and that finished the battle.

Now I'm off to fight a billion sorceresses.

Edit: And I've just killed a billion sorceresses. I'm almost done.

[Zeromus_X]

This...is amazing. (And do you plan on making a guide :p)

Don't let up now! You're almost there! :cat: (Where do you get Aura Stones anyway? :confused: )

[nik0tine]

This...is amazing. (And do you plan on making a guide :p)

Don't let up now! You're almost there! :cat: (Where do you get Aura Stones anyway? :confused: )
Amazing, huh? :p

I never really thought about making a guide. I don't see why I can't make one, though. I'd probably have to do this challenge a second time, though.

Don't worry, I don't plan on giving up yet. (Although Sphinxaur has beat me three times in a row.)
Aura stones are refined from alot of things. A power wrist gives me ten, I believe. Steel pipes (or is it orbs?) and fury fragments give me two. Also, I got some from the chocobo sidequest, I think.

Now, I'm looking for some strategies for sphinxaur. I basically can't do any damage at all. Once I knock his "mask" off I have to deal with Doom. I can't heal, I can't revive anyone who dies (and after 8 seconds they are certain to be dead) and I cannot kill her before she uses doom because my attack power blows and I can't use limit breaks. I'm really not sure what to do, here. Are there any abilities that prevent statuses like doom? I tought Siren the return damage ability, thinking that I might be able to use that for extra damage, but it doesn't do more than 50 damage, and it only works when Squall is attacked. (plus, he's dead after four or so hits, so it wont do more than 400 damage anyway)

Basically I'm looking for a way around these seals so that I can actually dish out a fair amount of damage.

[Ultima Shadow]

Well, just in case you would need it in futher battles, the Item that teaches GFs Auto-Shell is Moon Curtain.

Anyways... congratulations on beating Adel! This is so totally awesome! :cool:

As for Sphinxaur... well, the battle is all about holding down the X button to perform Normal Attacks over and over again. So I guess the best thing to do is boosting your Attack power somehow. The only way to do this, though, is to junction Str+60% and get the ultimate weapons for everyone in your party. Auto-Haste is probably good to have equiped, too. If Gilgamesh appears and does Excalibur or Massamune, then that will probably help a lot, too. Also, it's impossible to protect yourself against Doom.

[Shin Gouken]

F**k yeah that must have been amazin!!! I for one am seriously impressed :hyper:

[nik0tine]

haha, yeah, it was pretty cool. :D

I find it somewhat humorous that I took out Adel even though I was so severely handicapped and immediately thereafter I get killed by Sphinxaur.

[Shin Gouken]

haha, yeah, it was pretty cool. :D

I find it somewhat humorous that I took out Adel even though I was so severely handicapped and immediately thereafter I get killed by Sphinxaur.


How did you lose to sphinxaur :confused:

He's not going to give you as much trouble as Adel though surely? Have you got a way to beat him?

[nik0tine]

At this point I do not have a way to beat him, although I doubt he is going to give me the same trouble that Adel did. I just need to figure out how to deal a decent amount of damage to him so that I can kill him before all of my guys die.

This is where the "low level" portion of this challenge comes in. If I could level up I could just outlevel alot of these bosses, Sphinxaur included. Now I have to figure out how to get around my handicaps.

[Shin Gouken]

I don't remember what exactly you don't have for this battle. Items, magic, GF, save, revive, limits, in battle commands and.... something else. and obviously you can't junction. But can you still use abilities like auto-protect?

If you can't then yeah, levelling up is all you can do. But won't they level up with you?

[nik0tine]

I beat him. Or, to be more accurate, Gilgamesh beat him. I refined the Carbuncle card into 3 glow curtains (I think) and equipped all of my characters with auto reflect. The beginning of the battle was a breeze because sphinxaurs attacks just bounced back and hit him. Later he began casting Doom and killed both Rinoa and Selphie. About that same time Gilgamesh came in and did something I've never seen him do before - Masamune. It did 3,300 damage and took Sphinxaura out. I chose to unlock limit breaks, but I kept a seperate save file before that just incase I need to unlock something else instead.

Also, is there a way to tell which CC group member has my Carbuncle card? I want it back.

Edit: I just took down Tiamat and enabled the command ability. I've now unsealed two of the seals in Ultimecias castle. Next up I'll be fighting Red Giant, I think.

[nik0tine]

Sphinxaur.. Krysta.. Tripoint.. Trauma.. Catoblepas.. Red Giant.. Gargantua.. Tiamat..

I've off'ed every enemy in Ultimecias Castle... except one. Omega Weapon, here I come!

[Ultima Shadow]

About that same time Gilgamesh came in and did something I've never seen him do before - Masamune. It did 3,300 damage and took Sphinxaura out.
The ultimate proof that Gilgamesh > Odin. :cool:


Sphinxaur.. Krysta.. Tripoint.. Trauma.. Catoblepas.. Red Giant.. Gargantua.. Tiamat..

I've off'ed every enemy in Ultimecias Castle... except one. Omega Weapon, here I come!
Wow, that was fast. Seems like the other ones didn't really put up a good fight, after all.

Anyways... good luck with the big beef. HE will not be a pushover, that's for sure.

[Mirage]

I don't think you can get back a rare card once you've refined it.

[TheSpoonyBard]

nik, I think the Diamond on the left plays all the high-level cards.

Mirage, you can win back all the cards (except Pupu) from the CC group on disc 4, but only if you defeat them all before the end of disc 3. They'll be on the Ragnarok.

[Fire_Emblem776]

*claps hand* my god... your so brave...

[nik0tine]

I gave Omega a run for his money last night. It took him at least 20 minutes to kill me. It has become very apparent that although he is hard, he is beatable. I just wish there was a way around this hero/holy war thing.

[TheSpoonyBard]

You can Defend against everything except Lv5 Death, Megiddo Flame (9,998 damage) and Light Pillar (9,999 damage). You wouldn't get many attacks in if you keep Defending, and without invincibility or junctionin to HP you won't survive Megiddo Flame.

[nik0tine]

I'm midway through the battle with Omega, at an incredibly intense moment (just about to save myself from certain death with a phoenix pinion) and now my sister is using the TV. :mad2:

I'll update you all soon.

[nik0tine]

Holy.. /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif.. If anything ever warranted an update, this is it.

Mark this date, Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 because on this day, at 1:37 AM, Omega Weapon was defeated.

[Mirage]

I request details.

[-N-]

Very solid work! It seems like the remainder is but the falling action.
(Haha Mirage, I got all the details through AIM :p)

[Ultima Shadow]

Screw AIM! Post the details HERE and NOW! :p

And seriously... that's just amazing, nik! Congratulations! Now there's only one thing left to do: beat the crap out of Ultimecia. :cool:


Oh, and... once you're done with that, make a list of the top 10 toughest battles in this challange. This is officially the most interesting thread on EoFF at the moment.

[nik0tine]

I'd love to give you details, but the battle was over two hours long, so I can't give you a real description of what exactly happened.

Basically, though, I entered the battle with very low HP. I put Rinoa (who had Auto haste) in Angel Wing mode. Then I began using Heroes. It's fortunate that Omega uses Level 5 death on his first turn because that gave me time to use a hero on everyone. Now I am invincible and I had Quistis use Acid so that Omega gets vit 0. It is imperitive that you use acid, because if you don't you will probably run out of heroes, as the battle will take three times as long. From here on out, I had Squall use Renzokuken (1000-2500 damage tops.) and I had Quistis use Homing Laser (2100-9999 damage, although I only ever saw 9999 a few times)

I repeat that until invincibility wears off, and then I have to put it back on. Sound easy? Well, it's not. If you don't act fast, you're dead. Reviving dead party members isn't all that easy in this battle, because you have to worry about when each characters invincibility will wear off.

The very second two characters die you are to use a phoenix pinion immediately. It heals omega for about 2,500 HP, but it revives everyone and when your party gets wiped out phoenix will save you at least once.

There will be a lot of close calls in this battle. If you don't act with both intelligence and speed at these critical times the battle ends and you die. At one point in time I was certain that I was about to die. Squall and Quistis were both dead, and Rinoas invincibility had worn off. She, however, was uncontrollable. Luckily, Angelo came out of nowhere and revived Squall. The Omega punches rinoa for 5,000 damage. I used a phoenix pinion. As soon as I did that I realized I had made a Gigantic mistake. If I use this phoenix pinion, and Omegas next move is anything other than a physical attack, gravija, or light pillar, I have effectively wasted my phoenix pinion. I got lucky though, and Omega didn't kill everyone. I was able to put my characters back into invincibility status before he could wipe me out.

In this battle you have to predict when your invincibility is going to run out. Sometimes, you have to refrain from attacking. What may seem like the perfect opportunity to deal some extra damage to Omega may actually take you to the "Game Over" screen. You have to think about how long ago Omega last attacked and how long ago you last used a hero/holy war. If you put yourself in invincibility mode a few minutes ago, and Omegas last attack was 30 seconds ago you had better not be attacking.

One Tactic that I that I planned to use, but only ended up using once because it's moderately difficult to pull off (and I was running out of phoenix downs) was using the return damage ability in conjunction with Omegas Terra Break. If Omegas next attack is Terra Break, and you no longer are in invincibility status, use a Hero on everyone but Squall, and let Squall take the damage from Terra break. It'll kill him while everyone else stays alive. Omega will take 1/4 of the damage dealt to squall, which should be close to 9999, if not more. (For me it dealt roughly 9,500 damage) you can then revive squall, use a hero on him, and commence attacking. It's risky, but it makes good use of your most worthless attacker in this battle.

At some point in timein this battle Gilgamesh came and helped me. He used masamune, dealing 5,000+ damage to Omega, which is odd since I have never once seen masamune used in the 20 or so times I have played this game, yet it gets used twice in a row in this challenge.

Near the end of the battle I made what I thought to be a costly mistake. It seemed like it was about time for invincibility to wear off, and Omega hadn't attacked in a while. I had Quistis use homing laser, which was fine, but then I had Squall use Renzokuken. That was my mistake. (or so I thought) I didn't leave a character open to use a hero when invincibility wore off. Squall then performed an 8 hit renzokuken followed by a blasting zone, and much to my surprise, Omega was dead. I found it moderately amusing that my worst attacker deals the finishing blow because I made a mistake. :p

And now, I pose a question to all of you that thought this challenge was "Impossible". I have one battle left. Do you still think this is going to be "impossible"? :p

[Laugh at face of Danger]

definitely not!

That must have been an awesome feeling!

You probably felt more elation then than when i first beat omega with all junction and magic etc.!

[Mirage]

Yeah, just like it's more fun beating my girlfriend in Soulcalibur 3 when I have a huge handicap :p.

[Ultima Shadow]

Yay! Seems like atleast my predictions for this battle were pretty accurate after all!
Invincible Moon can also make you invurnable, but you can't rely on it trough this battle at such low levels since just about all Omega's attacks will mean instant-death. And you can't get Invincible Moon 87 times in a row... so you would have to rely on Hero items. Against Terra Break, you can also use Defend. As for dammaging Omega... you could use Rinoa's angel wings + meteor. Quistis "acid" would reduce Omega's defense to 0 and also... doesn't "Homing Laser" do dammage based on the enemy's HP? In that case, you would atleast be able to do 9999 dammage with Quistis.Even though Homing Laser isn't based on the enemy's HP, it was still possible to do 9999 with it and it was Quistis best attack move. :cool:

If it wasn't because of the fact that I've been so busy with school lately, I would have attempted this challange myself. I now officially hate school even more. :p

In about 2 or 3 weeks, I'll get some time off, though. Maybe I'll have the time to attempt this challange then. :cool:

And let me guess... this challange >>> Level 1 Ozma, right? :p I actually found my own FFVIII challange to be the funniest out of all my challanges so far, so FFVIII is now officially the coolest FF as far as challanges goes. :cool:

And I officially use the word "officially" far too much. :cool:

...and this smilie: :cool:


Anyways... enough about that for now. There's still one tough opponent left. Even though you've defeated Omega, underrating Ultimecia would probably be a big misstake. Especially if you've used up most of your Hero and Holy War's in the battle against Omega. And don't forget that Ultimecia isn't as predictable as Omega. Good luck, in the final battle of this awesome challange, Nik! The ultimate victory awaits you! :cool:

[Zeromus_X]

You're my hero nik!!! :cat::p

You absolutely have to try and make a guide. And do you think Ultimecia will be as hard as Omega Weapon? :cat:

[nik0tine]

You're my hero nik!!!:D

Personally, I think Ultimecia is going to be much, much harder than Omega Weapon because I won't be abusing Heroes like mad this time around.

Oddly enough, I've never beat a Super Boss "normally" before. Prior to this, I had only beaten Omega Weapon once, and that was because I had used The End. :p

[Ramza Beoulve]

WAY TO GO, is really great that you beated Omega, when I beat it the first time, I did it like a challenge, no junction and normal weaposn, but great man, you're the "hero" here jaja

[Ultima Shadow]

Do you plan to do any other challange after this one, Nik? :greenie:

[nik0tine]

Yes. I'm going to attempt an FF7 challenge, but I don't know which one I am going to do yet.

[Ultima Shadow]

Hmmm, I've actually thought a bit about a FFVII challange, too. I've already done one, but it wasn't my own challange... not to mention that it got pretty boring at times. It was the Solo Character, Initial Equipment and No Materia challange. But both solo and no materia is pretty boring, so I wouldn't recomend that.

Since you get EXP from bosses, you can't be at extremely low levels... but it's still possible to be at level 20-30 or something like that by the end of the game if you only fight bosses, which still is really low.

I guess Initial Equipment + Low Level would be an option. :greenie:

ps: Oh yeah... and have you fought Ultimecia yet?

[Laugh at face of Danger]

Ultimecia will be a push over, it's just going to be the randomisation of characters that'll do it

[Ultima Shadow]

Ultimecia will be a push overHardly. If even Adel was as tough as she was, Ultimecia will most likely be a nightmare.

[Mirage]

Remember his main damage dealer was unavaliable when he fought Adel.

[Shin Gouken]

Refining the bahamut card and auto shell on everyone will help prevail. Predicting when shockwave pulsar will strike is the key to surviving as it will probabley wipe him out without an invincibility item

[Ultima Shadow]

Remember his main damage dealer was unavaliable when he fought Adel.True. But even with Rinoa in your party, Ultimecia can take far more than Adel. And Rinoa, while being an unmatched dammage dealer, can't be controlled during Angel Wings. Also... what if Griever uses that "remove spell" move on Rinoa? Then her Angel Wings will be useless.

[nik0tine]

And that's assuming that I actually have Rinoa when the battle starts.

[Zeromus_X]

Well, I always kill off my characters until I get the team I normally use. Does that take too much time in this challenge though? :cat:

[nik0tine]

It'll waste a few turns, but it won't be a huge problem. I want those extra characters there to absorb damage, though.

[Ultima Shadow]

Hey, Nik! I just remembered something. It would be a good idea to junction healing and support spells to Rinoa as well. She won't use healing or support spells during Angel Wings, so she will still only cast meteor. However... if Greiver uses that "remove spell" move, there's a chanse a healing or support spell will be removed instead of meteor.

[Mirage]

and even if she removes meteor, there are a few other spells she can use too. Like Ultima, holy and flare.

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

my hat goes off to you nik for beating Omega. Don't forget that you can acquire some more hero drinks/wars by re-winning the rare cards again. Now go and whoop Ultimecia for yourself, for EoFF, and most especially for ME!:p ;)

[Ultima Shadow]

and even if she removes meteor, there are a few other spells she can use too. Like Ultima, holy and flare.Meteor is far more useful, though.

[nik0tine]

I probably should have done this earlier. I'm fighting Ultimecia right now. I've just beaten Greiver with my starting party of Squall, Quistis, and Selphie. At the moment, Quistis, Selphie, Squall, and Rinoa all have auto shell equipped. It's been useful. I also found that holy stones are incredibly effective against Griever (1600+ damage).

I do have to use a hero in order to survive shockwave pulsar. It's impossible otherwise. In defend status with shell it still does over 1,600 damage. Far more than I can take. Luckily, I had over 50 heros left from the battle with Omega. I use a hero on squall and let shockwave pulsar kill everyone else, then I have Squall use the Revive ability.

I'm worried about that planet attack right now. I don't know if I'll be able to take it or not.

edit: /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif, I'm dead. I had no idea that they could use Quake on me.

[Zeromus_X]

Hey nik, what levels are your characters at? And how many HP do the final bosses have at those levels? :confused: :cat:

[nik0tine]

My characters are at levels 9-16. Zell and Quistis are at level 9. Selphie, Rinoa, and Squall are at level 12, and Irvine is at level 16. I do not know how much HP the final boss has at those levels, though.

I'm seriously having trouble with the third fight in this battle. Ultimecia has more than one attack that can completely wipe me out in one hit. Quake can be remedied (but only with luck), Ultima can not. I also think her planet attack will kill me in one hit as well. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I will need one or two people with shell and in defend status for the entire battle. Hopefully at that point I will have Rinoa in my party and she can fire away with meteor. I may need to revise my junctioning to accomplish this, though.

Edit: I've just knocked off the lower half of Grievers body, effectively eliminating the "planet attack" threat. I'm almost there. I'm this close to beating Ultimecia and finishing this challenge. I'd better not die now.

Double Edit: My god I'm getting owned...

Triple Edit: Fuck. All of my characters have been "absorbed" and now all I have left is Rinoa. I smell a game over.

Quadruple Edit: Go Phoenix!!

Quintuple(??) Edit: Angelo Reverse!!

Septuple Edit: Game over. :(

[Ramza Beoulve]

n.nU It doesn't matter, remember that you can try again.

Godspeed.

[nik0tine]

Oh, the dangers of being too powerful. Rinoas Angel wing killed Griever before he could actually use Shockwave Pulsar. However, if that happens Griever uses it immediately before he dies, and I didn't get the chance to use a Hero. I'm still alive though, because of Angelo Reverse. Selphie and Zell can dissapear for all I care. Right now I need Quistis, and Squall/Irvine. Right now Rinoa has 86 HP and I just used a Hero on her, and not a moment too soon because about 1 second later Ultimecia uses an Ultima spell. I'll tell you how the rest of the fight goes from here.

Edit: Game over.

[Ramza Beoulve]

>.<

Well, just try again n.n

Good luck

[Zeromus_X]

nik, have you ever considered using Armageddon Fist for this challenge? Or is it useless for what you're trying to do? (Or do you think it's cheap? :p)

[nik0tine]

It's completely, and utterly useless. Or at least it seems useless. Zell can't do more than 70 damage per hit.

I've discovered something. Well, two things actually. The "planet attack" is actually called "Great Attractor" and it isn't a threat at all. With protect equipped it can't do more than 300 damage.

Oh yeah, I experienced another game over. When you knock off grievers bottom half he goes berserk. I think I might need Rinoa. I'm using Heroes and he's still beating me.

Edit: Game over.

[Ramza Beoulve]

>>.<<

Well, just try over again.

The force be with you.

[nik0tine]

Done. I've just made it past the third round thanks to Rinoa. This might turn out to be my very last battle in this challenge.

I had her at Zero hp (I could tell by Irvines shot) and then she uses Apocolypse on me. Game over.

[Ultima Shadow]

Ouch... that... seriously... sucks. How much dammage does Apocalypse do?

Good luck in futher attempts.

[nik0tine]

Apocolypse does 3,300+ damage.

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

One question: Are you allowing yourself to scan the monsters to see how much HP you require to knock off, then resetting the game or are you putting on a strict barrier and saying "no magic of any kind is to be used at any time between now and the end regardless"?

[nik0tine]

If I break the rules, I reset the game. I don't see why I can't intentionally break the rules and then reset the game. It's just that once I get to the final stage of the last battle it becomes a major pain in the ass to restart the game. In the past, though, I have been able to use the recover ability to tell how much HP an enemy has, but that only work with enemies who have less than 9999 HP.

[Ramza Beoulve]

One thing that I know of Ultimecia

Actually, you beat here around six time in the battle, because yo cannot harm here. But the only moment you can kill here, is after one hit after she says "and...", no before, no later.

Apocalypse, what a nuisance, if I remember well, you can take it from her, but in this challenge is just breaking rules.

You can do it :D

[nik0tine]

This challenge is complete. School started, and I hadn't played FF8 in some time. However, I just fired up my game tonight, and I have finally defeated Ultimecia. It's finally over, and what a gratifying challenge this was!

Edit: I forgot how excellent the ending to this game is.

[Ramza Beoulve]

YAY!!!!!

Congratulations!!!!

Now to School...¬¬

[Zeromus_X]

Bravo!!! :cat: Are you going to do another challenge nik? (Later, of course:cat: )

And, do you feel up to writing a guide on this mammoth challenge?

[Ultima Shadow]

Congratulations! Seriously... it has been really fun to read about your progress trough this awesome challange. :cool:

Now, would you mind making a list of the top 10 toughest bosses along with an overall difficulty rating? Because that would be great! :cool:

[NeoCracker]

Evan though I hate this one, great job.