Level One Ozma challenge!

[Marshall Banana]

7,199! 9,999 feels so close!

[Slothy]

Played some more today. Not a lot, but I made it through Dali and the fights with Black Waltz 2 and 3 no problem. Headed to Lindblum, synthed a bunch of Cotton Robes to get me up to about 30,000 gil and then did the festival of the hunt. Zidane managed to steal the needle fork with a whole 14 seconds to spare (even managed to get Freya to win the hunt too, though it finished with Zaghnol very much alive) and now I'm ready to head out of Lindblum. Next stop is the Marsh to grab Quina then I'll spend some time hunting Chocographs before heading to Burmecia.

[Marshall Banana]

We're playing at the same time!

8,130!

[Marshall Banana]

9,085! I CAN TASTE IT!

[Marshall Banana]

9,999!

THAT'S ENOUGH FOR TONIGHT.

I have some things to say about Thievery, though.

Thievery
I ran around the areas outside of Dali, Lindblum, and the Ice Cavern, and the area around Dali seems to be the best out of those three! I equipped Zidane with Mythril Dagger (for Bandit), Coral Ring (to absorb the Thunder spells), and Adaman Vest (to half the damage of Fire spells).

At first, I took breaks after every 30 or 50 steals, but, eventually, I took breaks after every 80 or 90 steals. This is because, today, I realized that Zidane can steal twice from each Python or Carve Spider (sometimes more). This meant more steals per battle, and, the fewer battles I was in between saves, the less tedious the process felt! My rule was: if Zidane steals something other than a Potion from a monster (Hi-Potion, Ore, Phoenix Pinion, or Tent), he continues to steal from it until he does collect a Potion. Usually, a Potion is Zidane's first steal, though!

[Necronopticous]

Hallelujah!

[Slothy]

Got Quina and dug up all of the Chocographs I can at this point. Next up will be teaching Quina the required blue magics when I play again a little later, then I'll finally be moving on.

[Ultima Shadow]

Great job, Marshall Banana! Dragon Crest takes no time to level up compared to Thivery, and then there's only Ozma left!

[Marshall Banana]

Thanks!

Blue Narciss

• Collected and turned in all Stellazio that I missed
• Found all available Chocographs so far
• Dug up all available Chocograph and Dead Pepper treasures so far
• Cotton Robe trick
• Stocked 99 Softs and 99 Phoenix Downs

-

Oeilvert
My party consisted of Zidane, Dagger, Steiner, and Amarant. Once the airship dropped off Zidane and company, I called Choco and found the two Chocograph treasures and two Dead Pepper treasures that I couldn't get before!

Oeilvert was easy! I used Softs on Epitaphs (they can be encountered in the room where the Moogle waits) until Zidane mastered Bandit, Soul Blade, and Thievery! My characters mastered many other abilities, too.

Ark
Important equipment:

• Kaiser Knuckles and Power Vest (Amarant)
• Light Robe (Dagger)
• Diamond Sword and Power Belt (Steiner)

Dagger was equipped with armor that gave her the highest Defense possible.

Important abilities:

• Auto-Potion (Dagger)
• Bandit (Zidane)
• Bird Killer (Amarant and Steiner)
• Clear Headed (everyone)
• MP Attack (Amarant and Steiner)

Dagger was invincible, but the rest of my party was wiped out easily. I revived Amarant and Steiner long enough for both of them to attack Ark twice. Afterward, I revived only Zidane over and over, and stealing Holy Lance took 17 tries! After Zidane collected Holy Lance, he used Thievery to finish off Ark.

After the battle, I unequipped everything.

-

Desert Palace
This place is hard! I didn't realize that there is a Moogle in the hourglass room, because the guide refers only to the Moogle in the library. A random encounter wiped out my party, and I had to fight Ark again!

I used the start and stop trick throughout the whole palace, so I encountered only two battles - one with two Grimlocks and one with a Torama. I had to reset a lot of times, though, because encounters here are tough. After collecting Shield Armor from a Bloodstone, I retraced my steps back to the hourglass room and saved. This saved me a lot of time!

Tents are effective against Toramas; Grimlocks are rather easy to stop; and Drakans seem impossible to survive.

If Eiko summons Carbuncle, the Grimlocks' Stop spells will bounce off of the party and stop the Grimlocks instead! :kaolaugh:

Valia Pira
Freya jumped twice; Eiko revived Quina who was killed off too early; Quina used Auto-Life on herself/himself; Vivi attacked and killed Quina; Eiko summoned Carbuncle; and Quina used Limit Glove. End!

[Marshall Banana]

Ozma is defeated!

But I'm jumping ahead!

-

Esto Gaza

The music here is nice.

-

Mount Gulug
I avoided all items.

I'm glad that Vivi mastered Stop a long time ago. Otherwise, I would have been forced to take a detour! I equipped Vivi with Octagon Rod, Headgear, N-Kai Armlet, Black Robe, and Gold Choker. I also equipped Vivi with Auto-Potion.

Red Dragons
Vivi focused three times and stopped the dragon on the right. Shortly after, he tranced and stopped the dragon on the left!

Saved.

Meltigemini

• Amarant: Reflect Ring; Devil Killer and Auto-Reflect
• Quina: Rebirth Ring; Auto-Life
• Zidane: optimized

The boss attacked Quina, but Quina came back to life. Zidane used Thievery, and Amarant threw Wing Edge. Eiko used Holy, and Zidane used Thievery again. End!

-

Dragon's Crest

1. I found the last two Chocograph Pieces in Chocobo's Forest. I found the Mist Ocean treasure. Choco turned gold!
2. Choco flew everyone to Vile Island where they encountered Yans until everyone had Virus status. Not too hard!
3. My party killed 100 dragons outside of Chocobo's Forest. I think the whole process took about an hour and a half?

-

Final preparations

• Final party: Zidane, Eiko, Freya, and Quina.
• I finished the friendly monsters quest, but now I hate Ragtime Mouse. At least a lot of abilities were mastered!
• I purchased two Egoist's Armlets and one Golden Hairpin, and I synthesized a Sargatanas (I had to purchase the ingredients for it, too) at Daguerro.
• I equipped everyone except Quina with Auto-Life, and I equipped the appropriate armor for everyone (everything the guide told me to equip).

-

Ozma
I chose all commands during Ozma's attacks - not between!

1. Ozma used Flare Star, and everyone survived
2. Eiko threw Dark Matter
3. Quina used Auto-Life on herself/himself
4. Freya used Dragon's Crest
5. Ozma used Berserk on Freya, but it missed
6. Zidane used Thievery
7. Ozma used Berserk on Zidane, and it took
8. Ozma used Mini on the whole party (not that it mattered)
9. Freya used Dragon's Crest
10. Eiko used an Ether on Freya
11. Zidane attacked, because he still had Berserk status
12. Quina used a Gysahl Green on Zidane
13. Ozma used Meteor, which killed everyone, but everyone was revived automatically
14. Ozma used Curaga
15. Freya used Dragon's Crest
16. Zidane used Thievery
17. Ozma killed Freya with a Death spell
18. Quina used Limit Glove

End!

Afterward, my game time was 49:04.

[Rantz]

Wow, great job!

[Slothy]

God damn you flew through that. I wish I had the kind of time to put almost 50 hours into this challenge in a couple of weeks. Congrats on beating this most excellent challenge.

[Quindiana Jones]

49:04?

It took me 56 hours to complete the game the first time I ever played it, haha. And that was without doing chocograph crap and only getting to the 50s. xD

Great stuff, MB.

[Necronopticous]

This makes Lamonda and I the first couple on the face of the Earth to have both beaten Ozma at level 1. Everything is proceeding as I have forseen.

[Quindiana Jones]

Officially the Saddest Couple 2009. :laugh:

*worships in secret*