What would you consider a really hard or entertaining challenge run of this game?
All white mage run is pretty tough, but im wondering if there is tougher (any version, not just nes )
Printable View
What would you consider a really hard or entertaining challenge run of this game?
All white mage run is pretty tough, but im wondering if there is tougher (any version, not just nes )
I've never done a challenge run. I find a regular run challenging enough. I wonder why the four White Mage party is considered the most challenging though. Don't get me wrong, it sounds hard, but four white mages means four people with healing abilities and they still can equip some decent weapons. On the other hand, four black mages means no party members with healing abilities, no party members with good defense, and no party members that can equip decent weapons. Granted, with four black mages that's a lot of spell slots worth of destructive power, but they're gonna need to use those up even more than usual, because it's basically all they have. It seems like four black mages would be harder to me, but maybe not. Also, four thieves sounds pretty rough.
Four white mages is actually one of the easier runs, as they have access to the RUSE spell, which is all kinds of powerful in the original release, and the magical items you pick up later allow you to deal decent enough damage; Black Mages and Theives are the worst two to full party challenge in the NES version, especially if you aren't allowing promotions. That said, Black Mages is probably the most 'entertaining' run in the GBA and beyond releases, as the intelligence stat actually works and you have access to the flexibility of a traditional MP bar, so things are a bit rough but you always have to tools to pull through.
I've always wanted to to a challenge run, but I imagine the white mage one is a problem because in the beginning you have an entire team doing piddly physical damage
I doubt it's very hard, but I'd probably be entertained with a black belt run, save tons of money on equipment, and just beast everyone with bare-handed combat most of the time
I imagine it would be a Thief Run if you didn't upgrade them, as their stats are middling and they have no magic outside of items. Granted, for FFI, the real challenge is always going to be the first half of the game, once Healing Helms become plentiful, you don't have to worry much about anything outside of incredible bad luck with critical hits.
I don't remember the healing helms. Do they heal automatically or are they used as an item in battle?
Yeah, there are three of them and can only be equipped by Knights and Ninja's but if you use them as an item they cast Heal. Largely trivializing the last third of the game. There is a lot of gear that cast spells as well that make the game easier by the end like the Gauntlets (Zeus NES) or the Black Robes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Golbez
So most classes can't equip them but they make the endgame easy for any party setup? My memory might be off but doesn't each character only get four item slots? If you give them a helmet they can't equip that's sacrificing a weapon or armor right?
Yes, but you have to also remember that both the Black and White Mage have poor helmet options (unless we're talking about the remakes/ports) and no shield options, so they can only equip robes and rings with one weapon, making the sacrifice not a big deal. Likewise, the Monk is traditionally better with no equipment outside of the Protect Ring and Ribbon for Instant Death and Status protection, largely making the sacrifice a moot point. In fact the only class that may have an issue is the Red Mage/Wizard and even then, if you set them up as a mage, dropping one item slot for a free group healing spell is not a bad trade off. That's the other thing to point out here, Heal in FFI is a low level group healing spell, so frankly, it actually gives mage classes something to do while dungeon crawling while still conserving their spell charges for boss battles. So yeah, it really does make the last third of the game pretty easy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Golbez
Wow, I was vaguely aware of this from way back in the day, but I think it was mostly my brother's original playthrough I remember this from, and I think he accidentally discovered it with weapons and we never experimented with other items. So I'm mildly familiar with using a weapon as a spell, but now I know I've been missing out lol Then again it's easy enough to break the game in half as it is. But that sounds super handy for challenge runs, though also making it less of a challenge run and more of just a run. Most of the time the only real problems are instant-kill and stone moves anyway, if you just play a normal game
What counts as a normal run vs a challenge run though. Are only 4 of the same class challenge runs or could other setups be? In the case of 4 fighters is that even a challenge run? Sure, there are some enemies that are strong against physical attacks, but fighters are such tanks they could probably manage pretty easily
4 fighters is likely the easiest run you can do next to 2 fighters and 2 red mages. Other common challenges are solo character or no promotion runs, with using 4 'bad' classes being the most common challenge runs.
Can you actually do a solo run or do you just have to KO your other party members?
Just kill them off or get them petrified.
I just completed a 2x knight, 2x white wizard run, where the primary rule was never running from a battle. Would I describe it as challenging? Maybe, in that it’s unreal just how often enemies land persistent status effects that require post battle attention and/or instant death effects. I suspect that the game was balanced around running, so the result was quite a slog of an endurance run. Marsh Cave stands out in particular. Other rules for the run included fully gearing out at every town, including 2x Knight Armour in Melmond for 72k. I class changed at level 31 of 99. This is Steam’s Pixel Remaster. While at no point did I ever feel I was going to lose, the sheer volume of battles and the drain on resources was a different sort of challenge. I enjoyed it.