Final Fantasy Accessories and Weapons (2)

Darkness!!

Yes, another tweak! Quake + Dualcast turns out (to me) very underwhelming (ran out of MPs casting !!) so have decided to swap that with Darkness, an AoE spell that uses HP instead of MP. Not only because it looks kinda cool (and ignores defence, and can hit flying objects too, unlike quake), I have the Genji Armour -- Regen -- so can just keep casting ^^ Also now have two HP +999%!! Darkness' power is determined by ATK stats and 215 is not bad. Think current setup is pretty powerful -- and fun too (You can do it Zack!!!)  

Final Fantasy Accessories and Weapons

Part of what makes Final Fantasy games is so addictive for me is not so much the stories but how I can find and unlock rare items in the game to build my ultimate/ perfect setup. My most recent success with the Pink Tail in FFIV (last post) is good example (all 10 characters have their ultimate weapon/ gear/ accessories), as is all those dresspheres and garment grinds - as well as the ultimate bosses I unlocked - in FFX-2. With FFIII I've unlocked all the jobs but the game is simply too grindy (even for me) I'll leave that for now. FF Type 0 is even worse as trying to get the ultimate spells and gears mean AFK grinding i.e. taping your control down so it'd grind while you are "away from keyboard" (!!) What? Again, I'll leave that for now.    

Is this the Real final setup?

Which leaves us FFVII: Crisis Core and, surprisingly, the setup for Zack has taken me a longer time to fine tune and perfect (as you can see my past posts). And I am still tweaking it. While getting his accessories (e.g. the Genji gear and Divine Slayer) was "straightforward" -- completing the 300 missions and unlocking all the scenes in the DMW but it wasn't as grindy as in FF Type 0 -- his materia setup is more fiddly. It took me ages just to understand how it works; it's a bit like chemistry when you combine two things you get a new one only you have to think about transferring "properties" from one thing to another. Like, how to give Costly Punch more VIT or create an attack that has more SPR etc. Well, unfortunately it is impossible to transfer VIT+100 to Costly Punch. Luckily, I can boost its VIT stats by fusing it with another Costly Punch materia and lots of aegis armlets (which, thank god, was easy to farm). So with stat boosting accessories like Ziedrich + summon materia, I am able to cap all VIT, SPR and MAG stats. 

But I didn't want to have the SPR+ and VIT+ materia taking up my precious skills slots so today I managed to do more materia fusion and now have BOTH Costly Punch and Quake, as well as an additional Mug skill (which I could transfer the SPR +100 onto). I'd have liked to have Dual Cast but you cannot transfer stats onto it (i,e. if I wanna have it on, then I won't have SPR +255). Besides, I'll need to Master it (hmm, may do that later) ... maybe I will alternate a Mastered Dual Cast with either Lucky Stars or Rebirth Flame. 

A couple of hours later...

Okay, I just levelled up/ Mastered Dual Cast (in that tedious kill 1,000 troupers mission - yikes) and I don't really see any distinct advantage of having the skill other than it heals more (?) (and did I imagine it or it eats up a lot of MPs for Quake?) So, back in Rebirth Flame (great animation) + Lucky Stars. Just took Zack to that "only for 1st class mission" (love the spawning of those eggs...) and got a free phoenix down from the RF summon. Level 96 now so three more levels to cap that.   

A Tale of the Pink Tail

This is, like, totally INSANE.

Hello Princess!

So having recently picked up Final Fantasy III (downloaded onto iPad1 awhile ago) -- I am going though my FF phase -- I decided to revisit FFIV since FFIII became a bit grindy just to level up (little did I know!) 

Anyway, having got all the top gears for my characters (was around level 50-60 then), I noticed I could try farm the legendary "pink tail", which can be exchanged for the game's best equipment, the Adamant Armour. I knew it is a super rare drop but not THIS RARE! Literally hundreds of battles (killing those Flan Princesses), zillions of gils, and many levels later (Cecil, Kain, Rydia, Rosa and Edward all @ level 99 or close to), still not one pink tail in sight. This is the BIGGEST grindfest since Tactics Ogre!!! I've levelled so much I can take on those flans without losing any HPs (which is great cos I can save MPs on healing) ... still, how many more auto-battles (thank god this HAS auto-battles) do I have to sit through before getting this item???

I've just stocked up for more mindless grinding, so I now have thousands of Sirens that I farmed earlier (need them to summon the Flan Princesses) and TONNES of elixirs (for Rydia to summon Bahamut/ mega flame) to grind until my PSVita (or me) blows up ...

Final Fantasy X-2 2nd Playthru (Part Two)

After a week I managed to reach Chapter 5 - faster than expected though I did skip all the side quests, hence locking myself out of the Fiend Colony, meaning I will not be able to unlock the The End garment grid (boo-hoo) ... why did I missed it in the first playthrough?

Anyway, have now unlocked not only the Aeon Cup (got the Peerless GG already -- hurrah) but also the Fiend World Cup/Almighty Shinra Cup (nabbing the Adamantite along the way). Will do one more Cactuar Cup battle before attempting the Fiend World Cup and unlocking, hopefully, the Almighty Shinra Cup before YRP levelled up more. Yuna, Rikku and Paine are at level 42-43 currently, which is neither too high nor low and battles remain challenging, especially in the Fiend Arena.

I've been fiddling with the setups a bit because I want to stay thematic (like, I don't see Yuna as a physical fighter, more a mage/ healer) while making every character strong and useful. So this is what I have so far (and this is what makes this game fun):

Yuna

She can switch between Gunner, Songstress, Psychic, Festivalist, White Mage and Mascot, all with maxed abilities. But since Mascot kinda overrides White Mage and Catnip has been nerfed, I've switched out both. Psychic is a real find (teleport and invincibility abilities are amazing) so great to have at the start of a battle (to get behind enemies). Songstress is great for buffing and Festivalist can cast Ultima but probably only good enough for non-boss fights).Lady Luck seems like a good one to explore later... So Mascot is still the preferred dressphere/class for Yuna and when coupled with the Higher Power GG, she can be a v good healer while dealing out decent damage with Moogle Beam. I still have one more accessory slot for her (be great to give her Ragnarok so don't have to worry about running out of MP). I put the stat boosting Adamantite on her. Though that slows her down a lot but it also makes her invincibility and (songs) buffs longer (I think...) which is super cool.  

Rikku

I see her more as a support character, with ability to steal, heal and buff. I switch her between Thief, Berserker and Mascot ... thematically all make good sense. I skip Alchemist cos I cannot do the mixing (cannot read the Japanese names of items!). So she can do damages as Berserker, with auto-regen (though not great) as well as heal and buff with Mascot. I like her because she moves fast (and can steal) and I slapped a Valiant Lustre GG on her to further boost her defence. But she is the weakest of the three... sometimes just use her as bait (for tough boss). I put a speed bracer and ribbon on her for More protection! 

Paine

I never liked this character (all the pouting... and that hair!) but, boy, is she the best Boss Killer in the game?!  I only see her as a heavy damage dealer so Warrior and Dark Knight classes suit her the best. Mascot also has Samurai skills (Fireworks!) which is brilliant. Needless to say, I put the damage-boosting Peerless on her (break damage limit) as well as Iron Duke to boost her stats (monstrous!) and Ragnarok, meaning can keep using her amazing Cactling Gun without the fear of running out of MP.  

Chocobo/ Lulu

I need to build these "creatures" ... both have multiple hits so putting Invincible and Catnip on them would work wonders ... will try that later Mwahahaha...

Final Fantasy X-2 2nd Playthru

The thing is, there aren't that many Final Fantasy games out there that I like and are ported to the PlayStation Vita so after some dithering I've returned to X-2 for a second playthrough. The fact that it's all in Japanese is a real turnoff (since there are so many missions that require understanding of the language) but I really want to unlock the Aeon Cup (summons!!) so I am willing to overlook this inconvenience. Since I am going to skip all those time-consuming side quests, at least I can speed through the chapters this time round. 

I'm in Chapter 2 now and so far so okay ... since this time I made a different decision - handing the Awesome Sphere to New Yevon - I 100% the game. So my objective is to get to the last Chapter (5) as quickly as I can cos only then I can catch all the fiends I need to unlock the Aeon Cup ... but before that, I will have to substitute Yuna Rikku and Paine with Nooj, Baralai and Gippal to keep their level low so I can morph the fiends more quickly. Which also means, by that time, the game will get very challenging because YRP will be @ Level 4 while all the enemies will be @ very high levels... which should be interesting... 

Steins;Gate 0 (Part 2)

Have played a bit more and gradually getting into the story. I'm still getting used to some of the new character illustrations (Mayuri and Luka especially) and (I know, this is weird) I really don't like that save file image, which looks like a blurry blob ... what's happened to the mini scream caps?

New (and old) cast

Now I understand the structure a bit better and I'm, basically, on the right track. There are, like, six endings (including the "true" one) and to unlock that, I will have to, compulsorily, unlock the Kurisu and Mayuri endings. Which leaves me two optional Maho, Kagari and "Bad" endings. Well, if I still have time (and enough curiosity), I will play through those too (maybe the bad ending?)

More Mystery and Action!

Is that ... really you? Kurisu....

I've reached a point where Okabe is now quite sure he's leaping from one world line to another. And the shift is done after answering (or ignoring) a call from Amadeus Kurisu (the AI). I have yet to find out how the AI and world line changes are connected. I hope there is no more padding out on this route -- before I have to, like, go back in time, and do the other route, which unlocks the Mayuri and True endings. 

The more sentimental soundtrack here actually reminds me of that in Ao no Kiseki, which is quite beautiful, lyrical and moving. And I've just reached the part when Okabe and Kurisu (in human form and another world line) reunites and that got me a bit teary. ><

So, will continue to play this ... while I've also just download YuGiOh for mobile phones and that looks very interesting. I've Always loved this card game (I still have the Ultimate Masters- World Championship Tournament on my GameBoy Advance) and can't wait to get back into it. Though I also recently re-bought the Marvel Trading Card game but since it has this terrible lag on my Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core limited edition PSP2000 I think I will kinda leave that (I'm just more interested in the cards cos they include a lot of different series from the Marvel universe...)  

Steins;Gate 0

Have started this "midquel" of Steins;Gate and my opinion of it so far is a bit mixed. Since I went straight to the True Ending in the last game, I know how this story (canonically) ends. Steins;Gate 0 is more a follow-up that fills in more details about one particular "world line" (alternate universe), the one that started the last game. And it's not a pretty one. While the Stein's Gate universe is the one with the happy ending, i.e. no one dies, the Beta world line is the one that Kurisu dies, an event that leaves our protagonist Okabe devastated.

Okabe ... a broken man 

Steins;Gate 0 wastes no time in jumping into the thick of it and quickly introduces the new characters. Kurisu still exists in this world line but only as an AI. So far the story is interesting enough (though peppered with small talks that I really have no interest in). The relationship between Okabe and Kruisu is probably the only thing I'm interested in ... Mayuri sounds a bit different (though the same voice actors have returned for this instalment) and I really don't like her new look. The new art is actually more slick but, like, Daru looks better in the last game. The music also makes less of an impression. 

New character Maho

While Suzuha returns ... 

I'm taking the route that unlocks the true ending of this game, though I'll have to leap back to unlock others endings to finally access it. This time the story is told from different PoVs instead of just from Okabe so whenever I reach a segment I have little interest in I tend to stall there a little. Anyway, will keep playing (since there isn't much out there at the moment). 

Genji Armour + Genji Shield = Invincible!

I played a bit of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core this morning; decided to change the set up just a little so I have Rebirth Flame replacing Costly Punch, using Quake to kill big mobs. I really love the music so will keep playing the game until I get really tired/sick of it ... but will I?