Edward - The Real A Bards Tale

Last night I had a vision. A prophetic vision no less. One that gripped my soul in throes of fear and joy and various of abilivant ways of feeling. Before me stood a giant figure, standing over me in my bed (I know what you're thinking, and no, it wasn't that). He stood with an instrument in one hand and looked down on me with terrified eyes.

"Maxx Power?" he said

"Only on t'internet" I replied, cowering behind my sheets. The figure loomed down further on me.

"I have a task for you. My name is Edward. Years ago I allowed my likeness to be made into a game of divine creation. You mortals call it Final Fantasy Four" the figure then went into a tragic stance while a chorus of voices were heard, whilst I tried to sneak out. "But my name was besmirched! I was seen as a weakling, unable to stand on my own feet! A pathetic person unable to fight even the weakest of monsters".

"But you" he said, pointing at me just before I got to the door "You can reclaim my glory! I want you to take the latest version of the game, the GBA Advance version. Take me and only me, and defeat every monster in the land. Truely then must everyone accept my divinity". With that he dissapered in a redish puff of smoke, leaving me feeling bewildered with only one thought in my mind.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into".

So with this divine inspiration I begin my Epic quest. To take the Character of Edward and achieve the following:

- Get "our Ed" to level 99 with near "maximum" stats
- Defeat Bahamut
- Defeat all of the Mountain of Trials monsters
- Defeat Zeromus

All of this must be done solo without any help whatsoever. I will only be using Edward from the first instance I can (after defeating the Giant of Babel) after which the only thing I'm allowed to do is have Cecil "crystalise" Zemus to initiate the final battle. I've heard of solo White Mage runs, Level 1 Ozma and No-Equip, No-Materia, Low-Level games, but never in exsistance has anything so mind-numbingly stupid and nigh on impossible has been attempted. But if anyone's going to do it, it'll be me. Apox on any who claim ownership to this covetted title, it shall be I who emerges victorious...

http://photos.yafro.com/pics3/i/2006...01050_full.png

...then again maybe not.

Well, I've seen people make strange FF quests before just to make the game more interesting, but this takes the cake. Good luck though.

I was thinking of actually taking care of Edward, but he's in bed. I just got to the point last night where... umm, I'm taking Cecil, Tellah, Cid, and Yang to defeat the Dark Elf. Wait, in the new one you can get Edward back?!!! OMG!

I believe this is one of the symptoms of clinical insanity.

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Originally Posted by Black Mage

I believe this is one of the symptoms of clinical insanity.

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Sign me up theDo not despair, Maxx Power, for I too have taken this noble quest to return honor to the fine hero that is Edward Chris von Muir.Sadly, my efforts have proven difficult thus far, but I refuse to allow myself to fail!

...Who am I kidding, this is immpossible! ...Oh well. *Continues*

I bet you guys loved it when he got thrown off the boat.

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Originally Posted by Fireblade13

I bet you guys loved it when he got thrown off the boat.

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I was sad. He was the cutest guy there. I'm just kidding. Edward's not that bad of a character, it's just he's not that great in battle. Least he knows where his heart is. (He's so~ gonna get with Rydia.)

I had no clue you can use any character you want in this version of the game.

GO, AND TRULY EMERGE VICTORIOUS!

OK then so I found somewhere pretty nifty in order to level up. On the first floor of Bahamut's cave you can fight Dark Sages. Provided you have the Lamia Harp, they'll "Break" themselves to death for an easy 17k odd experience a battle. Of course Confusion (quite literally) is the key, since Edward's damage is pathetic. Of course this makes boss battles a scary prospect since confusion rarely, if never, works on bosses.

So here's my stats plan. From what I've heard the level-up bonuses are the same in this version as they were in the SNES. So going off a rather faberoo guide from Gamefaqs by CronoLV99 (blatant advertising but check out the guide, it's essential FF4 reading), Edward's stats at level 70 will be the following:

Str: 42
Agil: 41
Vit: 26
Wis: 28
Will: 28

(NB: In the GBA version, Vit is Stamina, Wisdom is Intellect/Intelligence and Will is Spirit)

So far, so average. Now onto some calcs. I won't be aiming for "max" stats of 99, since many stats become superfluous beyond anything divisible by 2 or 4. Namely the technical max for each stat would be:

Str: 96
Agil: 96
Vit: 98
Wis: 99/93
Will: 99/93

Due to Magic Defence Percentage calcs (Wis+Will / 4), if one stat is at 99, the other only gives benefit up to 93 and vice versa.

So onto his gains. As some of you may know after level 70 the gain rate of characters changes, become a series of random additions or subtractions to the base stats. For Ed these would be:

str, agil, vit, will, wis -1
str, vit, wis, will -1
str, agil, vit, will +1
agil, vit, wis +2
str, agil, will +3
str, vit, wis, will +4

scraping the first four, we get onto the real juicy gains. Since Will and Str are maxed automatically, we can disregard them. This means we have a toss-up between Agil, Vit and Wis. IMO, Agil > Vit, since Agility increases your Attack and Defense multipliers, so that'll get priority, followed by Vit and finally Wisdom. So it'll be +3 until Agility is at 96, followed by +4 to Vit and Wisdom.

But then again there's Ed's "uber equip" to take into account. These are the bonuses he gains from the side-dungeon equipment:

+30 to Strength
+30 to Agility
+10 to Vitality
+15 to Will

Adding those onto our original stats we can get our final "golden numbers", or the amount that that stat needs to go up to reach it's "max":

Str: 42+30 = 72 (24)
Agil: 41+30 = 71 (25)
Vit: 26+10 = 36 (62)
Wis: 28 (65)
Will: 28+15 = 43 (56)

So, starting on Agility we get:

8 Level-Ups of +3 to Str, Agi and Will
1 Level-Up of +2 to Agi, Vit and Wis (I did this since Agility would actually go over, plus this gives more points to Vit and Wis)

This maxes our Strength and Agility. We still need 32 points to max Will, 60 points to max Vit and 63 to max Wis.

20 Level-Ups of +4 to Str, Vit, Wisdom and Will

Which is more than enough to finish off the maxing out of the rest of the stats. Not too bad for an apparently "suxxor" character. Still I've got to get there first. I'm only up to level 55. Better get to confudling those sages again.

EDIT: Look what I just found:

http://photos.yafro.com/pics3/i/2006...01060_full.png

Looks like life just got that much more easier for me :D

Hate to double post but seeing as this is an update then it's worth putting it on it's own.

Firstly, level 99 has been achieved. Unfortunately I screwed up one level and ended up with one of the - values. However if my calcs are correct I'm going to have 99 in every stat once I have my "ultimate" equipment on. For the record here's Ed's stats nakid at level 99:

http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/4...othier016s.png

Now onto some other notes. Firstly items. Since money is utterly useless at this point I'm able to stock up a lot on Hi-Potions. I'm also planning on buying a whole load of Elixir's for boss battles. At 100,000 a pop they won't be cheap, but I've already run up 1.2M just from levelling, so that's 12 right there already. I'm also going to be stocking up on Redemies, because quite frankly nothing else will do.

Now onto the first task, the Mountain or Ordeals. I wanted to head up there before taking on Bahamut, since I really could do with that Apollo harp. Anyways, the actual dungeon itself is easy enough. Thunder Dragons were probably my only concern since their Blitz attack shaves off half my HP in one go, so usually a "tactical retreat" is in order.

As for the bosses themselves I of course went for the Gigas Worm first, simply for the heart. It wasn't an easy battle by any means. Due to his "Behemoth" nature of countering with every hit I had to take a few rounds out to heal myself with Hi-Potions which made life a lot harder. But eventually, after about fifteen minutes of fighting...

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/3...othier028p.png

Bingo! And boy what a harp! 146 Attack with 99% accuracy and 18 hits? Yes please! He's no Cecil by any stretch, but his days of doing two-digit damage are well behind him.

As for the other bosses, some were a cake-walk after the Gigas Worm. The Storm Dragon went down very quickly (almost 9k damage against him!) as did T-Rex and Death Mech. Master Flan is proving difficult, if only because of my complete lack of offensive spells. Plus I'd been stupid enough to trash most of my "castables" during the course of the game so the only thing I had left was 3 shots of Stardust. Enough to finish off the White Flans but no where near enough for the Black ones. So I'm going to have to carry on until later when I've got some more castable items again. Until then I'm off to beat a lizard with a wooden stick.

Other things I've learned:

- Characters off-party will gain the exact experience given. All my characters were in the high 90's when I returned with my level 99 Edward.
- The game counts stats over 99, but doesn't apply them. So a Strength of 104 would be 99, and a -number level-up would keep it at 99 since it would still be over that amount.
- You can run whilst "hidden"
- Confusion rocks on regular monsters rocks!
- The sing command can do three things : Inflict Sleep, Silence and Confusion.
- Edward doesn't use the "hide" command as much at higher levels automatically, leading me to believe it waits for a specific value rather than a % of maximum health.
- Bards get all the chicks:
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7...othier036r.png

Your quest is strange, challenging, and tempting to try!

Edwards' face is ugly in the GBA version... the sprites look shiny... kewl... I though the SNES and GBA were equal in the graphic department....

Said lizard went down without a hitch. Subsequent invasion into the Lunar Dungeon proved successful, with all the side-quest bosses killed off (I have their relevant weapons stored for full screenshot use along with all the other uber-gear I'll be collecting as proof). As for Zeromus...

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/9...sharped6uy.png

PWNED!

So much for the terrorisation of the world. Who said I couldn't complete the game with just Edward? Eh? Who I ask you? Now who's crying aloud with mirth and merriment? Me, that's who! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Sorry I've lost my mind a bit. I'll get onto the Lunar Ruins soon. I'm dreading taking on some of the "Dark Aeons" due to some claims that a full party can have problems against them. Best stock up on those Elixirs then.

I notice that they did a horrible job with faces in the new FFIV. Cecil's and Edward's faces (the cutest guys on the original version, IMHO)... are just destroyed!! GAH!! The only one I do like is young Rydia...

Anyway, CONGRATS! Never said you could, just thought it was crazy.

not only does this seem impossible...... also how many shrooms did you eat to see edgar lol
DARK

I give you props my friend, I give you props.

Through the Dungeons he did go
On his own for a mighty stroll
Not one, or twice, but thrice did he slay
The evil of Zeromus on this day
And from this act he was able
Go down into the bowels of the unstable
There he met a grizzly foe
Of Lunar Fame and might to show
One by one he smote them all
Through courage and song and a Megalixor (work with me people)
And even the dragon who all said was hard
Fell to the might of this mighty bard
Until at last he stood in the prescence
Of a terrible foe who wasn't Penance
But still he was strong and some would say
That using the Grimoires was the only way
But with courage and steele our hero was victorious
And all through the land the word was glorious
"Cry from the rooftops! Shout out his name!
Edward the Bard has just won the game!"

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/2...sharped2tj.png

http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/4...dragon10ol.png

http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/7694/egdown17sp.png

Yes, that's right. The task that all said couldn't be done. Some laughed, others scorned, most were indifferent. But to those of you who say that no one is capable of redemption, I say to you; Pifflebock! Just look upon now, the "weakest" character in the game, defeating an enemy many quail at even with a full party of Mages and Fighters. Destroyed utterly and without question by a man who for decades was seen as a coward. But now no more. From this day on, all shall know his name...

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/163...othier279a.png

You may commence your praise...

BTW Please check out my (hopefully) comprehensive guide on how to approach this mammoth task. Any suggestions/comments are welcome, but please email/PM me them if you must. Thanks.

You rock my world.

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Originally Posted by Necronopticous

You rock my world.

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^_^

Wow. That's all I have to say.

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Originally Posted by Maxx Power

Through the Dungeons he did go
On his own for a mighty stroll
Not one, or twice, but thrice did he slay
The evil of Zeromus on this day
And from this act he was able
Go down into the bowels of the unstable
There he met a grizzly foe
Of Lunar Fame and might to show
One by one he smote them all
Through courage and song and a Megalixor (work with me people)
And even the dragon who all said was hard
Fell to the might of this mighty bard
Until at last he stood in the prescence
Of a terrible foe who wasn't Penance
But still he was strong and some would say
That using the Grimoires was the only way
But with courage and steele our hero was victorious
And all through the land the word was glorious
"Cry from the rooftops! Shout out his name!
Edward the Bard has just won the game!"

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Dude, you rock.:)
Good work on your endeavor.

Dude. Can I worship you now?

maxx power i annoint thee "god of ff4" enjoy the glory oh great master!

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Originally Posted by HowlingMonkey

Dude. Can I worship you now?

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You could worship me previously, but feel free to start now.

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Originally Posted by omegaweapon2005

maxx power i annoint thee "god of ff4" enjoy the glory oh great master!

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Thanks, I'll place it between my trophy for general greatness and my "Most Witty Pirate" certificate for '02.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maxx Power

You could worship me previously, but feel free to start now.

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Hmm, perhaps some retroactive worshipping plan would be appropriate then...

Not the god of FF4 but "Edwards Puppetmaster" is better. Hey has edward come to u again tell him that u did it and that He should have drown by leviathen!

Hmm, too bad a Tellah quest isnt possible...

Good work though, im impressed!

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Originally Posted by Fireblade13

Not the god of FF4 but "Edwards Puppetmaster" is better.

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You could say this about any FFIV character when you put it this way.

This almost makes me want to try this.

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Originally Posted by Elite Lord Sigma

This almost makes me want to try this.

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Yup.

I would try this if Zeromus wasn't so damn cheap.

It's sad that I haven't noticed this thread until now... but, man, I love you Maxx!!! :cool:

Well, I dunno about all these extras in FFIV GBA, but it sounds like it was extremely difficult. Great challenge, and great job completing it man. You've joined my list of heroes here at EoFF. :D

This makes my FFIX challenge look like childs play.

Wait... you seriously beat Brachioradius with just Edward? Does he still target Stoned characters? I guess he would have to because he uses 99 on your characters pretty often. And, well, that would kill Eddy.

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Originally Posted by abrojtm

Wait... you seriously beat Brachioradius with just Edward? Does he still target Stoned characters? I guess he would have to because he uses 99 on your characters pretty often. And, well, that would kill Eddy.

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Stoned targets don't get targetted. Believe me I learned that VERY early on after I tried to cheap tactic Bahamut when I was level 50ish. "Our Ed" had full Agility so all I had to do was play smart i.e. make full use of the Hide command when needed. Like most monsters Brachioradius follows a strict pattern of attacks, and with the Appollo Harp doing 9999 damage per hit it was actually one of the easier bosses. Without a shadow of a doubt Lunar Ramuh was the hardest boss.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7...othier036r.png[/QUOTE]

where is this place please?
i remember i visit it in the snes version FF2, but i forgot where it is now
can u tell me please?

*bows and grovels*
O' great master! You have achieved the impossible!
I thought Edward was to be stashed in the "Useless Things of FF" cabinet along with the 1/35 soldiers, the Scholar class, and the Tissues.

Since you have such a way with verse, I thought I'd write you a little something:

At the beginning of his difficult quest
To prove that the bard Edward was best.
Sir Maxx was scorned, spat on and teased
But he carried on to do as he pleased.
He tried again and again
Wasted hours of his life.
To achieve a goal
Of agony and strife.
After many a grueling try
Sir Maxx came out, proud and spry.
And those who mocked him days before
Greeted him with a cheerful roar.
He was a hero! A champion! A god!
All worshipped him, both near and abroad
Edward was once seen as wimpy and frail
And now a king in the Real Bard's Tale

Hey, I try, all right?

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Originally Posted by jackleu

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7...othier036r.png

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where is this place please?
i remember i visit it in the snes version FF2, but i forgot where it is now
can u tell me please?[/QUOTE]

I believe in one of the later towns, you go to buy a pass in the bar and you go in to see some sort of dance and they grab you... just check all the overworld towns...uuur...arrggh

It's in Troia. You need to buy a 10,000 Gold one-time use Membership Pass from the Lady at the entrance of the Pub, than give it to the man against the back wall. He'll let you in the room, and than just talk to the guys behind the counter. You can watch it as much as you want by talking to the same guy repeatedly, as long as you don't leave the building.

I tried this today, off someone elses GBA version. How could you have the patience? Edward plain SUCKS in fighting. The little bastard keeps hiding on me.... Gah...I cant stand it......

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Originally Posted by Acid Raine

I tried this today, off someone elses GBA version. How could you have the patience? Edward plain SUCKS in fighting. The little bastard keeps hiding on me.... Gah...I cant stand it......

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Just keep him with enough health to not hide. Or Berserk him so that when his health does get low he'll hide and still attack.

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Originally Posted by Rengori

Just keep him with enough health to not hide. Or Berserk him so that when his health does get low he'll hide and still attack.

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Generally speaking 'Zerking Ed is not a good idea. His Hide ability is one of the most useful, and he tends to go a bit...mental once Berserked. It's always best to have full control of him at all times, especially when levelling up.

O and thanks for the poem Acid Raine. That was killer. Keep at it though, and be sure to read my walkthrough about this very challenge (that Gamefaqs still hasn't posted).

That's 'cause Gamefaqs is retarded. Maybe you could get it on EoFF...

I CANT DO THIS!!! grarrr...I dont have the patience for this.....Zernomus squashes me EVERY TIME. I belive I had failed about......14 times. HOW DID YOU DO IT?!?

I'm doing this myself now on my third file. I've made a few new discoveries as well:

Note: I will be updating this until I reach Level 99.

-The Confuse strategy works just as well on Selene Guardians. They use Embrace when Confused to kill themselves and their allies for an easy 13K experience apiece. Since I almost always find them along with Dark Sages, I get 30K-43K experience a fight.

-I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'm finding if you level up on the squares to the right of the stairs leading to the second floor in the Cave of Bahamut, you always seem to get the juicy (+3 and +4) stat gains.

I forgot about Bahamut by accident (I killed him before going to the Giant of Babel), but I think I could have taken him on in a while.

As of right now, my Edward is Level 82. Stats:

HP: 4085
MP: 0

Attack: (16) 60
Precision: 99%
Defense: (8) 47
Evasion: 54%
Magic Defense: (5) 12
Magic Evasion: 23%

Strength: 90
Agility: 70
Stamina (Vitality): 52
Intellect (Wisdom): 46
Spirit (Will): 68

Right Hand: Lamia Harp
Left Hand: None
Head: Black Cowl
Body: Black Belt
Arms: Diamond Armlet

I tried this with my second file, but it didn't go well because I botched stat raising. I had to cheat by using Grimoire LD on Zeromus EG to turn him into a toad because his Absorb ability was healing more damage than I was dealing. If you happen to want to fight Brachioraidos again, equip the Assassin Dagger/Hero's Shield combo that Maxx used on Zeromus EG. Brachioraidos' annoying Glare technique, which can easily kill Edward in one hit, will be absorbed, along with his Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga combo. His Holy/Flare/Tornado combo will do significantly less damage as well.

The Hero Shield is such a stupidly overpowered item it beggars belief. Not only is it the only shield that can be equipped by anyone, mages included, but it also bumps up your stats/resistances/evasion like crazy. The only item I can think that compares is Adamantium Armour.

I've made another discovery about stat raising. How Edward's stats are raised can be altered not only by how many battles he wins, but also where he is placed in the formation of the party. So, if you're having problems getting the stat gains you want, change Edward's position in the party. (This applies to both the row and the position he's in).

Level 99 has been attained. Here is Edward's stats with no equipment:

HP: 5595
MP: 0

Strength: 99
Agility: 79
Stamina: 92
Intellect: 94
Spirit: 99

Now I'm off to go beat a giant worm with a stick...

Aforementioned Gigas Worm is defeated. I did have to take a few rounds out to heal, but the hardest the worm hit me for was about 500 damage. After about 10 minutes, the Apollo's Harp was mine. And it's quite good. 146 attack, 99% accuracy, and 19 attacks per round, with a harp? Yes, please!

Anyway, here is Edward's stats when equiped with all of his ultimate equipment (minus his armlet from the Lunar Ruins, of course):

HP: 5595
MP: 0

Strength: 99
Agility: 99
Stamina: 99
Intellect: 94
Spirit: 99

Attack: 146 (19)
Precision: 99%
Defense 86 (12)
Evasion: 60%
Magic Defense: 32 (9)
Magic Evasion: 46%

Right Hand: Apollo's Harp
Left Hand: None
Head: Red Cap
Body: Red Jacket
Arms: Diamond Armlet

The Storm Dragon was a joke. He only got to attack twice before I slew him. He did a total of 56 damage to me. He only got to use a double attack (one of which missed), and Tornado (which also missed). I averaged about 7k damage a turn, so he went down in about 10 attacks.

T-Rex was a bit harder than the Storm Dragon, but he went down quickly. His physical attacks all missed, and his Earthquake attack did less than 200 damage to Edward.

Master Flan was difficult. I luckily had some Dragon Fangs (Red, White, and Blue, that is), The Master himself did a fair amount of damage reflecting Flare and Thundaga off of himself, but he eventually fell to Apollo's harp. Using the Blue and Red Fangs, and two shots of Stardust, I killed off all of the flans (twice).

Death Mech went down in about 15 attacks. He was incredibly slow, and only attacked twice (like the Storm Dragon) before dying, with Flame and Laser.

Now I'm off to go slay Zeromus.

Invasion of the Lunar Subterrane was successful. I have all four legendary weapons, and both Ribbons.

Dark Bahamut was the easiest. He only attacked with Mega Flare (which I reflected), and Reflect before getting killed. This is mainly due to the fact that every turn Apollo's Harp did 9999 damage to him per turn.

Ogopogo was probably the hardest of all five. His double Tidal Wave took out half of Edward's HP. But I killed him before he had a chance to do so again. His physical attacks were pathetic, doing little more than 100 damage.

The Lunasaurs were the easiest, except for Dark Bahamut. As with him, Apollo's Harp did 9999 damage each turn.

Plague was the second-hardest. He cast Doom, but I took him out before time ran out. He did no damage, mainly because he kept trying to cast Haste on Edward to speed up the countdown, which always missed.

The White Dragon was almost as easy as the Storm Dragon. He went down very quickly. It almost went exactly the same as the Storm Dragon battle.

As for the spirit of hatred, Zeromus...

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/9...sharped6uy.png

OWNED!

(The only difference being that Edward had 25 more HP left than in the picture, but that's not important.)

Now that it has been reproven that it is entirely possible to do this, I'm going to beat Zeromus twice more, to fully unlock the Lunar Ruins, and then infiltrate it.

Sorry for the quintuple post, but...

I've fully beaten the Lunar Ruins...Zeromus EG included. Now it's been reproven that beating the game with just Edward is not impossible.

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Originally Posted by Elite Lord Sigma

(The only difference being that Edward had 25 more HP left than in the picture, but that's not important.)

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Yeah, that and I doubt you named yourself "Maxx" :laugh:


As for me, I had to give it back. I plan on buying the GBA version myself, but it is currently out of my price range. But, it wont be for long! :P

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Originally Posted by Acid Raine

Yeah, that and I doubt you named yourself "Maxx" :laugh:

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Edward stayed as Edward. Twod have been heresy for him to carry any other namesake.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elite Lord Sigma

Sorry for the quintuple post, but...

I've fully beaten the Lunar Ruins...Zeromus EG included. Now it's been reproven that beating the game with just Edward is not impossible.

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Well done my acolyte! Truely the skills of Piratism and the schools of both Black and White magic serve you well. Have some kudos, free of charge ^_^

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maxx Power

Edward stayed as Edward. Twod have been heresy for him to carry any other namesake.

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I meant Cecil.

M'kay, I just bought myself the GBA version, so I can try this FULLY whenever I want. However, I do plan on beating the game the REAL way first.