Unfair Status Ailments?

[BG-57]

As I've been trying to defeat Cuchulainn as early as possible it occured to me that he caused a status ailment I couldn't block: Sap. This was despite the fact that I tried once to equip Quasimodo Boots, which are supposed to block the effects of Sap.

My question is: Is it fair to have a boss be able to ignore status effect blocking equipment/spells?

My contention is if they want a boss that has effects you can't block, make the party fight them before the means to block them is available. Of course that would be hard to do with an optional boss, unless it dropped said equipment.

[bipper]

It is fine, imo. Just part pf the challenge I guess.

[Setzer Gabianni]

Well, yeah it is fair. It's part of the challenge, and if you take that handicap away, it's going to make it less challenging, less fun.

The boots wouldn't have worked either way, because the arena effect was to be made Sap. I don't know if Cuchulainn actually gives you sap himself..

It fits in with Cuchulainns history really. He used to be a really handsome person, apparently, absorbing all the bad things from people, but there were so many impurities in the world, that it turned him into..oogie boogie.

Kinda makes sense for him/arena effect to be zapping at your health, and to not be stopped by boots - one reason being, instead of being good and absorbing impurities, he's gone "bad" and is absorbing precious life/health. He is supposed to be like a powerful being, so some boots aren't going to stop something he's causing. Quasimodo boots would only block weaker creatures from attempting to use sap.

My contention is if they want a boss that has effects you can't block, make the party fight them before the means to block them is available. Of course that would be hard to do with an optional boss, unless it dropped said equipment.

But what if more then 1 optional/storyline based caused sap? Say, the first boss, then a last boss?

[Shattered Dreamer]

I hate whenever an enemy casts say sleepaga or silenceaga & you have casted reflect & for some reason ignores the reflect it seriously gets my goat.

[Dragonface]

The boots alone will give you a % res vs sap. In other word, odds are you get sap is 80% instead of 100% when been hit (Misses don't count).

[JonyH]

although, dragonface, in this case that has nothing to do with it.

As previously stated, Cuchulainn's battle has an area effect 'health drain', it is not the effect 'sap' and in fact it is at least 4 times stronger. So anything that can be said about sap has no validity in this case.

[Shattered Dreamer]

Cuchulainn actually has an attack that causes sap, he casts Bio, in addition to the fact your health decreases, he used disable & immobilise a lot too, I remember this fight cause it thicked me off big time. Its not the esper that was the problem in this fight is was those bloody fubar purple flan's they keeped using some attack that caused sap too. This fight was good in one way it teaches you how to deal with multiple status effects quickly.

[qwertysaur]

To defeat Chuchulain you pretty much need two people spamming Curaja. Attack the foobars before going after Chuchulain, they are a real pain. Were just lucky he can't cause the disease status effect.

[Cap'n Basch]

You are going to love fighting Ultima. She cycles through arena effects and all of them are major hindrances.

Anyway, once you know Cuchulainn has this additional effect, you should really be devising a strategy to beat him that takes it into account. There's nothing "unfair" about giving you another variable to account for, it means you have to do more than simply hitting him until he falls over. Anything that requires you to engage your brain is a good thing.

[BG-57]

I guess he's a true optional boss: ridiculously overpowered for the levels your party is likely to be when he first becomes available.

It's interesting that the description of the boots says they make you immune to Sap. Not exactly truth in advertising, apparently.

[gudkid]

how about the esper zodiark?? does he/she have an area effect like "the condemner" where you can't use magick??

[BG-57]

I haven't gotten that far, but I know that many bosses in FFXII use area effects.

I'm not really objecting to area effects per se, more that if something says it should make you immune to a status effect, it really should make you immune, no matter what.

[Little Blue]

I made that mistake yesterday when I tried to fight him. I think I'm fairly underlevelled for him and its really annoying me. What's worse is that I'm running out of curative items just when I get him critical and then I die... I hate that HP drain...

[BizarroSephiroth]

I think there is only one unfair status.........ailment,even though it nelps you. Reverse should last longer.

As for Cuchulainn i know happened to me to i had to use frikin Esunaga every 4-5 seconds.

[Shiva_]

The HP Drain effect can't be blocked by the boots as it's not the same as Sap. Cuchalainn uses an attack that causes Sap, the boots can help with Sap. His worst attack is Disable, and if all your guys get hit with that, then you can be in trouble, this can kill you. Black Belts are a must.

how about the esper zodiark?? does he/she have an area effect like "the condemner" where you can't use magick??

Zodiark doesn't have one, but he's super difficult in his own manner.