Ludicrous difficulty spike

I just started playing this again on PSP, and I just got out of Lindblum to go to Burmecia. Suddenly, in the random battles, I'm getting totally, utterly and completely ANNIHILATED by these pathetic, ordinary monsters. One hit kills with fire spells and physical attacks that take off half your life bar at a go. I'm having to use a phoenix down and several potions after every single battle (i.e. about every 45 seconds).

I don't remember the game being this totally and utterly impossibly hard first time around. What is going on?

Maybe you're underleveled, I don't remember any stuff like that. You'll probably level up fast now with those strong dudes, though.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Maybe you're underleveled, I don't remember any stuff like that. You'll probably level up fast now with those strong dudes, though.

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Could be, but like you I don't remember it being like this. I haven't played it for ages though, so could be that my memory's off.

I don't know about the levels though. I just this moment got Quina in the party (he came in at level 9) and he was just taken out of a battle in two hits, a spell which took off 2/3 of his life and a hit which took off the rest. And this was a typical random battle, not a boss fight. Absolutely ridiculous.

One of the reasons I love(d) the PS1 FF games was because they are pretty easy. I know many people think that's a minus, but for me an RPG is all about the flow of the story and the gameplay, and having to replay boss battles 30 times and having to heal your entire party after every single random battle really stops the player from getting into the game's rhythm. My friend once sent me an FF1 emulator, and I started playing it out of historical curiosity. My entire party was wiped out by the second random battle, at which point I realised that there was no point in playing it any further.

EDIT Just to add, I'm now in the grotto and I just took on a random battle with my party all at full power. At the end of it, two were KO'd, one had 3 HP left and the other one only survived because it was Freya, who spent most of the time in the air.

Pathetic. Absolutely, utterly, totally pathetic.

Sounds like fun if you ask me, easy battles are boring :>

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Sounds like fun if you ask me, easy battles are boring :>

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I guess it comes down to how important battles are to the player. I always liked the FF games for their stories, music and set pieces. The battles were never that important to me (well, to be more precise I should say the random battles...boss battles are a different thing). So when every single random battle means you have to heal / revive your party afterwards, it turns that part of the game into a chore.

Anyway, I just got reaaaalllly pissed at another ridiculous FF9 battle and broke my PSP in half. So no more problems with random battles for me:)

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Sounds like fun if you ask me, easy battles are boring :>

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You should play the 4 heros of light for the DS, my friend got it and I must say it's stupidly brutal.

I've honestly never had this kind of trouble, not when it was first released and not when I played it on PSN a couple of months ago.

At that stage in the game I remember being roughly around level 10-13, and I had upgraded a few weapons. Making for stupidly easy battles. So go back to Lindblum, upgrade weapons and try leveling up a bit.

I found that I jumped a few levels in the cave between Lindblum and Burmecia since I had to keep running back and forth because I couldnt make it through the cave without loosing half my hp but once I was out of the cave I had leveled up enough that the rest was a breeze. I think it was those medusa like monsters that annoyed me the most.

I'm a grinder, so I tend to be overleveled, especially in IX when early enemies are carrying useful stuff like Potions and ethers I don't feel the need to waste money on, so I tend to wander into battles to stock my inventory. I do remember IX being somewhat difficult in the early stages (mostly the first disc and part of disc 2) but part of that was the game had a brutal encounter rate compared to most FFs. I think that's why I tend to grind early in the game...

If you think about it, IX really does fit the difficulty curve of FFI and II, by being pretty mean in the early stages but eventually becomes incredibly easy by end game.

I never found FFIX especially hard (and I stink at video games). With regards to going from Lindblum to Burmecia, the only enemy on that route that could cause serious problems are the Ironites and their Flame attack. Otherwise I am very puzzled as to how you're finding these enemies so lethal.

Did you upgrade your weapons and equipment in Lindblum? You should definitely upgrade your stuff. If you broke your PSP apart, that's going to seriously inhibit your progress though...

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Originally Posted by playedemall

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Sounds like fun if you ask me, easy battles are boring :>

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I guess it comes down to how important battles are to the player. I always liked the FF games for their stories, music and set pieces. The battles were never that important to me (well, to be more precise I should say the random battles...boss battles are a different thing). So when every single random battle means you have to heal / revive your party afterwards, it turns that part of the game into a chore.

Anyway, I just got reaaaalllly pissed at another ridiculous FF9 battle and broke my PSP in half. So no more problems with random battles for me:)

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You might have anger management issues. Or maybe you're just filthy rich and have 50 PSPs lying around your house.

Did you go up the rope in the grotto? Cause you're not supposed to go up there, you will be annihilated by the birds and dragons there.

On PS1 Freya came into my party at level 7 and the fields before the Grotto were perfectly fine. Bit harder, but levelled up quickly. This obviously looks to have been made harder for the PSP.

There is no PSP version, just the PSP emulating the PS1 version, I think. So the games should be identical.

I kindof want to get the psp emulator for it now...
Also ludicrous reminded me of this scene from spaceballs...
‪Spaceballs - They've gone into plaid‬‏ - YouTube

Frankly, I found IX to be the easiest of the PS1 FF's.

I think you're underleveled. Are you learning skills properly?

I remember the boss in the Ghetto owned me until I got Quina and the extra numbers made it a lot easier.

A few things you should always do in Lindblum:

• Synthesise the Butterfly Sword and the Ogre for Zidane in the Business District over from Dragoose's weapon shop.
• Let Freya win the Festival (the Coral Ring is more useful than 5000 Gill)
• Get Add-ons

If you don't get the upgrades before you enter Gizmalukes Grotto for the first time you'll need to wait until Treno on Disc 2 before you can access another Synthesis Shop as Lindblum recalls all trolley's and stops all access to the castle (the Guard tells you this).

I also seriously recommend you go to Chocobo's Forest and get the Healing Shore Chocograph, then the Small Island - the latter one gives you an Oak Staff with Drain, Bio and Stop in it - when you can't buy it in the shops until Condie Piete on the Outer Continent so it gives you a massive one-up if you manage to steal the Ice-Staff and Magus Hat from Gizmaluke before you arrive in Burmecia.

Regarding the Guarda and Grand Dragons:

Not impossible to beat, just very hard and it needs a lot of luck, a coral ring and the Ice staff. I first beat one at level 9, and I got very lucky - then it gets easier.

Of course it would get easier after that. You'd go from 9 to like 20 in one battle.

I don't ever recall IX being hard at all excluding the optional bosses.

I dunno I never found FFIX and I don't see why another port would get tougher.

It isn't a port, it is the same game.

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Originally Posted by FFIX Choco Boy

Of course it would get easier after that. You'd go from 9 to like 20 in one battle.

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You can't beat a Grand Dragon without worry until you're in your late 30's, early 40's and even then it depends on your characters, equipment, support abilities and action abilities.

Example:

Level 10 characters (Zidane, Vivi, Freya and Quina)

How do they fight something that can kill all of them in one hit?

Not easily; this is why Antibody and the Coral Ring are the two most vital "things" you can have; you should also have Level 3 Defence Less (Carve Spider, Lindblum Plateau) and Limit Glove (Axebeak, Lindblum Plateau), Whitewind (Garuda, Popos Heights) and Mustard Bomb (Bomb, Lindblum Plateau) - the last four abilities are spells in the Blue Magic category, and can be learnt by having Quina eat the listed monster; be warned that White Wind should be attempted to acquired last due to the fact that once you enter Gizmalukes Grotto for the first time, you lose access to Lindblum.

Hmm, perhaps I should just do a guide on it as there seems to real point to me typing it out here and now.

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

I don't ever recall IX being hard at all excluding the optional bosses.

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Ozma *shivers* Wasn't that hard if you had the Egoists Armlet and Demons Mail though, you'd just either Guard or Absorb the Doomsday attack whilst he took damage (if you'd found all of the friendly creatures), watching Vivi cast it and just knowing that I was safe was a relief.

Can't you just kill them with Lv5 Death?

After some research it seems like you can't get it that earl. I was under the impression that you could.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Can't you just kill them with Lv5 Death?

After some research it seems like you can't get it that earl. I was under the impression that you could.

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No, Level 5 Death is learnt from a Dracozombie (Dragon Zombie), first encountered in the Lifa Tree, disc 2 when Quina is not with you (remember that s/he leaves the party at the start of Condie Piete mountain path to chase after Mog when you first "meet" Eiko). The earliest opportunity to learn that ability is disc 3, with the Blue Narciss at your disposal.

Well that sucks.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Well that sucks.

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But you can defeat the dragons on disc one, it just requires a bit of luck and making the right choices in Lindblum with the festival of the hunt.

I always had a hard time there too because I hate grinding. Running around in circles in the same spot fighting the same monsters for three hours is not fun. It's work. I play video games for fun. :|

I didn't really grind a lot in my current playthrough, and I can't recall anything that looked like a difficulty spike there.

I've pretty much played from the beginning of the game to Iifa over the last 3-4 days or so.

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Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

I always had a hard time there too because I hate grinding. Running around in circles in the same spot fighting the same monsters for three hours is not fun. It's work. I play video games for fun. :|

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True enough, but I like a challenge - and defeating Grand Dragons on disc one constitutes such a challenge.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I didn't really grind a lot in my current playthrough, and I can't recall anything that looked like a difficulty spike there.

I've pretty much played from the beginning of the game to Iifa over the last 3-4 days or so.

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From my own memory Final Fantasy IX doesn't have such a spike unless you deliberately go looking for Yans or Ozma when you aren't prepared for them.