FF5 Four Job Fiesta 2014: Can I !Mix you a !Drink?

[Reddyne]

...I think so far one of the most lucky things happened to me so far.
I got into the battle with the Red Dragon that's in the chest in the Barrier Tower with the Blood Sword in it, and it nuked my entire party with Atomic Ray... sans Galuf, who managed to, thanks to the Elven Mantle, avoid FOUR attacks in a row while throwing Bio at it until it died. That was amazing.

The Elven Mantle has been a life-saver on many occasion. Considering how much they boost your evade rate, they're well worth keeping around for the entire game.

[Garlyle]

The Elven Mantle has been a life-saver on many occasion. Considering how much they boost your evade rate, they're well worth keeping around for the entire game.

Elven Mantle is second to pretty much only the Hermes Shoes in terms of general use accessories to keep on, as far as I'm concerned.  And the Hermes Sandals are only available late in the game/become optional with a Time Mage or Samurai in the party.

[triangles]

Oh look I finally was streaming again last night and saved a clip of me failing at video games  hahaha (I get mad and swear a bit though so uh don't watch at work or in front of grandma or something)

Spoiler:

now that I think about it, I think he was subject to DOOM AXE last year

Spoiler:

[Stuffman]

Ugggh I really need to finish my run but my party is so awful

I have literally nothing to look forward to

[Smashy]

... uh...

Get ready to abuse that Beastmaster as much as possible and give your Zerker the Thief speed passive?  I dunno that team does look painful on paper.

(AT LEAST YOU CAN GENJI IT UP!?)

[Shizumarashi Mayuzumi]

Are Leviathan, Phoenix, or Bahamut even worth me picking up or should I just grind up some AP for a bit (a lot of my off abilities aren't where I'd like them to be and I could probably use a fewwwwwwwww more levels too) and head into the Rift? I have Summoner but I can Air Knife Syldra and also I have Black Mage so I could just Flare or a -ga spell where applicable. Leviathan is annoying and Phoenix Tower is annoying and ugh.

(Also, Kaiser Knuckles: not even remotely worth it even though I do have a Monk, right?)

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

Bahamut is worth it for stuff Syldra doesn't work on, which for the final dungeon isn't much. Leviathan isn't really worth it unless you're hitting weakness or using Elemental Power Mix from Chemist. Phoenix revives with full HP and MP, which is definitely worth it unless the enemy absorbs or nulls Fire, and it may be worth it even then.


I don't consider the Kaiser Knuckles worth it as I prefer having the accessory for Haste. If you have Time Mage, Chemist, or Samurai, you could have them Haste the Monk in which case definitely go Kaiser Knuckles because it'll allow your Monk to do more than be an itembot.

[Reddyne]

Oh ye gurus of the FF5, I'm but a mere mortal whose knowledge of the guts of this game have eroded over the ages.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Team I'm Finishing A Work-Intensive Costume for Otakon Gimme A Break, the RNG tips the other way for a bit.



I'm not exactly sure what exact drop rate of reflect rings from reflect knights is, but it's high enough. Hanging around on the middle floors where their encounter rate is highest proves fruitful after a brief spell. Speaking of spells, Off-Guard, Level 4 Graviga, and Time Stop are picked up here. Level 2 Old and Level 3 Flare are available here but only via !Control I believe. Also the Gigases are reported to use Aeroga here but I didn't see them use it once in the two dozen or so encounters here. I'd have pics but VBA's screencap thingie is a bit weird.



Galuf takes a number of comets to the face here. Considering that he's my main source of little white numbers jumping out of bad guys, I was a touch worried. Luckily Sword Dance lit Atomos up a few times and Lenna dents his many faces. It wasn't too much trouble.



There's a quick stop-off at Ghido's cave which is unremarkable outside of how cool ninja is. Aeroga is picked up here too.



Yeah. The RNG stuff can go pound sand. It's nice to see Sword Dance proc but I don't like playing dice. Away with ye, foul miscreation! OK. Time for the stuff we haven't been waiting for. Moore forest time.



Oh hey look one of the Level spells got off its lazy bee-hind and actually hit an enemy. There seem to be a ton of baddies in this game with prime number levels.



Seriously, I applauded and cheered.



Took you long enough. Is this the 7th or 8th try now? >:|



Well, it was worth it.



Aaand guardian crystal things beaten. I do get TPK'ed a couple of times while hoping for Missile to land. Eventually I just skip it and fare much better by using Flash way too many times, whittling each crystal to half HP and then bum-rushing it immediately after it attacks.

The dungeons from this point on in the game are so much fun. Each has tough bits and enemies you can't just bowl over. There's plenty to keep a player interested.

Wait.



What?



WHAAAAAAT?!



Hellraisers are the first baddie in the game to carry White Wind which are not immune to Confuse. Going from no healing beyond individual 500 HP doses to one that can heal 1200 HP to all party members in one go is huge. It also give Red something to do besides miss with Dark Spark and Death Claw. Not bitter. Nosir. >:|

Such is the fate of Team It's A Good Thing I Finished Up Dark Souls and the Sequel Whacked Me in the Face a Few Times Too Many so Here I Am. Join us next time on Team I Already Have the Next Bit Ready or Team Now Everything's Going My Way Since the RNG Stuff Has Been Purged Like a 8cm Kidney Stone.

[ElaineSpencer]

Reading through this thread has reminded me that I really should finish FJF. It's my first year, rolled White Mage, Berserker, Geomancer and Dragoon. Sandworm was a bit tricky but otherwise nothing completely rage inducing has happened. I just kinda stopped for the night like a month ago and never picked it back up x.x

[Reddyne]

Reading through this thread has reminded me that I really should finish FJF. It's my first year, rolled White Mage, Berserker, Geomancer and Dragoon. Sandworm was a bit tricky but otherwise nothing completely rage inducing has happened. I just kinda stopped for the night like a month ago and never picked it back up x.x

That simple little white mage is that team's only saving grace.

[I have no name]

That simple little white mage is that team's only saving grace.

Dragoons are surprisingly powerful, they don't synergize well...but if they're jumping, the berserker is tanking and White Mage actually synergizes with Dragoon.  It's not a great overall team composition, but it's not terrible.

Thief/Berserker/Ranger/Chemist is kind of...boring, since I can mow over everything and farm some ingredients here and there.  Gotta finish up soon though, the Forest of Moore is waiting

[ElaineSpencer]

Thief/Berserker/Ranger/Chemist is kind of...boring, since I can mow over everything and farm some ingredients here and there.  Gotta finish up soon though, the Forest of Moore is waiting

I want your team. xD

But we shall finish because I say so. Everyone finishes.

Spoiler:

Even if it's ten years down the road.

[Reddyne]

Dragoons are surprisingly powerful, they don't synergize well...but if they're jumping, the berserker is tanking and White Mage actually synergizes with Dragoon.  It's not a great overall team composition, but it's not terrible.

Thief/Berserker/Ranger/Chemist is kind of...boring, since I can mow over everything and farm some ingredients here and there.  Gotta finish up soon though, the Forest of Moore is waiting

Sho 'nuff, but having a Swiss-army-team helps just so much more. It's a harder class to use for utility I guess?

Anyway, we return you to your regularly scheduled programme: The Adventures of Team Getting Its Ducks in a Row Like a Pro.

Realizing that White Wind pierces the reflect status, I decided to keep reflect rings on everyone. It has led to a lot of enemy impotence. I beat up Carbuncle for his lunch money simply because I could and Gilgamesh didn't fare much better. 4 reflect rings vs. Exdeath negates a lot of his insult-to-injury attacks as he starts getting 2-3 moves in a turn towards the end. Vacuum Wave wipes out party members a few times, but with White Wind I've little to worry about outside of it. A phoenix down or four later and he's done. And VBA eats all my images again. >:|



Onto world 3! Hey gang it's been like 8 years where do I go?



OK nvm. Sandlion is a breeze with a blue mage and ninja. Try harder next time, please. Onto the pyramid.



Wait.



Oh hey look who wants to give me cool stuff.



And some other cool stuff. Fixed damage attacks can be a boon under the right circumstances, especially considering Red's only so good with physical attack damage and blue magic is top-heavy with situational magic and low-damage attacks. Aeroga has been a great addition and this should help when it doesn't work. Been waiting for this one for a while.



Nothing quite beats taking some of the RNG out of an RNG-based class. I dunno the exact mechanics, but Sword Dance procs more often. Coincidentally, so does Jitterbug, which I never had much qualms with anyway. A running gag seems to be the number of times Faris has used Tempting Tango only for berserker Lenna to undo it.
Oh yeah! Time to put this puppy to work.



Right after a major grind session. Every few times you run away, the strength of the knife permanently increases by one point. I'd do the math, but I'm lazy.

Right! NOW it's time to shiv some jerks.



Including this one. !Scan does NOT work, meaning I have to guess what her weakness is. Her dodge/defense is through the roof for all except one barrier change weakness, but with Sword Dance activating twice as frequently (or thereabouts) and 1000 needles being set-in-stone non-elemental damage, it's pretty smooth sailing. The reflect rings prevent a lot of damage to my party and I don't have to think about healing much at all.



o bby. Now please don't fall over because of a stiff breeze.

Welcome back, Lenna! I have a shiny new gaia hammer for  y-



Oops.

Such is the fate of Team Berserker Risk Minus The Berserker. Join us next time on Team Red Bludgeons an Old Man into Oblivion with a Magic Hammer or Team 12 Legendary Weapons Available Only Through a Special Deal on the HSN.

[Reddyne]

Now that our party is full again and we have access to the airship, it's high time to get something I've had my eyes on for the entire game.



C'mon...



Where are you?



A-HA!



Now I've got your power!



The Stingray is a rare encounter and only available on a specific part of the map. Again, getting him to use a usable enemy skill requires confusing him and enduring a bit of a beating, but it's so worth it for Mighty Guard. I don't think either the Shell or Protect effects wear out once they've been applied. Float's a nice addition that I think will come in useful once or twice, but reducing physical and magical damage on the party for the length of the fight is useful anywhere and everywhere. The team's survivability is through the roof now and Red is now a monster of a blue mage. You can still keep the RNG/level dependent skills though. I've used Aeroga about 10 times more than the aforementioned turn-wasting spells.



Seriously, I get lost again.



Time for the wind shrine. There's only so many tricks here beyond a switch puzzle and a room with collapsing floors. The chicken knife is a bit much for some baddies at this point. The Executioners here have all of the Level spells. Level 2 Old and Level 3 Flare are... tempting, but that's just it for now. These spells are so infrequently useful, but since numbers divisible by 2 and 3 pop up so much more often, they're simple to pick up anyhow. I'll be back.



Wendigo's good for Mind Blast and that's about it. He was always just in the way during my other runs, too. OK. NOW I can go to Fork Tower. Just because. It's so short that screencapping isn't really worth it until...



Hiiiiiiii~. I thought ethers reset his mp to 9999 but he casts Return. Oh well.



Two protect rings plus Mighty Guard leaves Omniscient consulting his doctor about ED and low testosterone levels. Magic Hammer takes a few tries to get going, but when it does...



Time to add insult to injury.



He's got a bajillion magic points, so it actually takes two magic hammers to get below insane numbers. Again, Magic Hammer takes about 5 castings to actually stick, but he's not doing much damage, so...



REKT

DEKT

SHREKT



Hyuk hyuk hyuk.I forgot to see if he could still cast Return, but that's only a 1 mp spell or whatever anyhow and this is already bad enough. Time for bed, chump.
Such is the fate of Team Frighteningly Cruel to Geriatrics. Join us next time on Team Let's Grind for Things or Team Let's Skip Over Screencapping Grinding for Things.

[The ⑨th Zentillion]

Melusine: Always starts out weak to fire, but if you're just doing it blind you wouldn't get to know that.
Omniscient: Could've also just gone in with reflect rings and aerogaed him to death, too. BV As for using the ether, probably doesn't work on him because Return's a counter-reaction to everything that isn't magic or !Steal. I pity what'll happen to the void bosses, though. Heh heh.

[Reddyne]

Melusine: Always starts out weak to fire, but if you're just doing it blind you wouldn't get to know that.
Omniscient: Could've also just gone in with reflect rings and aerogaed him to death, too. BV As for using the ether, probably doesn't work on him because Return's a counter-reaction to everything that isn't magic or !Steal. I pity what'll happen to the void bosses, though. Heh heh.

It's been several years since I've played, so stuff like this is a liiiittle out of my grasp. Very viable techniques, though. Unfortunately with this party the only real options for fire attacks come in the form of fire scrolls and Flamethrower, which long since bowed out of favor because of how little damage it did in the first place. Also the protect rings were really all I needed. Toying  around with the game a bit every so often is fun, too.

[Mew seeker]

Now I've got your power!

Time for relevant Megaman cartoon video.  :getdown:

[triangles]

Oh hey so I finally got back to playing again and what do you know, I did roll Chemist after all  :V :V :V

[Reddyne]

I have like 3 updates that I just need to change the resolution on 50 for, but I'm too lazy for right now. Unfortunately, I think Omega's a no-go without copious more grinding. The maxed-out chicken knife does 3.2k damage with Sword Dance and needing to chop him down with a whole lot of RNG shenanigans. Reflect rings and flame rings don't deflect/absorb enough attacks for me to get through that nonsense. Unless there's some easy way to go psycho, there's too much stuff to wade through just to keep the party afloat. tl;dr hour down the drain enough's enough. >:|

[UncertainJakutten]

15 days remain

#FJFSlackers hype

I just started Act III I am so good at this game.

[Validon98]

I'm still at the Forest of Moore my god. I need to catch up. Maybe. If I feel like it.

Screw the Crystal Seals with my party my god.

[Reddyne]

Aaand done. The whole experience was pretty enjoyable and I'll probably do this again next year. It's kind of unfortunate that the extra bosses are just a bit too rough for the party so there's no decent way to glide through their encounters.

The downside to the whole thing is that Blue Mage wound up being quite disappointing. In the end, I just used Mighty Guard and White Wind for blue spells. That's it. The ones that do damage are only so effective. All those cool status effect ones aren't worth the time on lesser enemies and will take several castings in order to take effect on tougher ones. Still, Mighty Guard and White Wind made everything possible. It's just a shame that by the third world I had given up on using any other spells at all outside of something just for funsies.

Dancers kinda stink. Faris was in trouble throughout the game and with the lamia's tiara, rainbow dress, and red shoes all equipped at the same time, I was lucky to have Sword Dance kicked in every few dance attempts. She hit the damage limit each time she did so with the chicken knife, but the last bit against Neo-Exdeath was a constant slog with Mystery Waltz activating twice as often. Faris was an item bot more often than not throughout the majority of the game.

Berserkers aren't so bad. Lenna needed some babysitting every so often, but that was it. The damage output waned late-game, but their tanking abilities are superb.

And ninja are still the best thing ever.

[The ⑨th Zentillion]

Congratulations, man! Unfortunate you didn't find Blue Mage all that useful, though I do have to say that the spells you used were its best abilities by far. As for Dancer, the thing to note about its equipment is the effect doesn't stack and only takes Tempting Tango out of the equation, so it's still pretty rng-based, just a little less annoying to manage - still makes a world of difference when it's 1/2 instead of 2/4! But still, luck can be fickle sometimes.

[UncertainJakutten]

#FJFSlacker Victory + Omega + Shinryu, HYPE.

So, Omega was literally me getting lucky and not getting hit with his instakills on my party (Black Mage, Mystic Knight, Geomancer, Dragoon, #Natural) Having first strike when I won helped a lot. The strat was basically Reina uses Thundaga sword on the Chicken Knife, and has to hit 6 times. Between can't runs an missing because of Omega's evade, this was harder than it sounds. However, I did finally manage to get 5 in relatively quick succession...and then took forever to get the 6th, holding my breath every single time Omega blinked for fear of the dreaded Earthquake or a badly timed Wave Cannon. Butz was on firaga healing duty, and the rest of the party just tossed items as needed. Still, I prevailed!

Shinryuu hardly bears mentioning because basically cheese. Mini, Genji Shield Reina to stay alive forever, berserked Shinryuu from wonder wand, proceeded to smash his face in and revive Krile who had the dragon lance whenever she got hit. (I also revived Butz so he could contribute the occasional flare, but it really was Krile's show).

Finally, Neo Ex-Death. Huge pain in the ass...until someone mentioned the Almagest part can be break bladed. The minute I did that I pretty much wiped the floor with the guy without breaking a sweat.

Either way, looking forward to doing this next year...but there is no way in hell I'm doing a #Natural run again. It's...honestly kinda boring in terms of cool class stuff you can do, and I was lucky to have as much raw power as I did. Might consider going the way of the 750 next year!

[Reddyne]

#FJFSlacker Victory + Omega + Shinryu, HYPE.

So, Omega was literally me getting lucky and not getting hit with his instakills on my party (Black Mage, Mystic Knight, Geomancer, Dragoon, #Natural) Having first strike when I won helped a lot. The strat was basically Reina uses Thundaga sword on the Chicken Knife, and has to hit 6 times. Between can't runs an missing because of Omega's evade, this was harder than it sounds. However, I did finally manage to get 5 in relatively quick succession...and then took forever to get the 6th, holding my breath every single time Omega blinked for fear of the dreaded Earthquake or a badly timed Wave Cannon. Butz was on firaga healing duty, and the rest of the party just tossed items as needed. Still, I prevailed!

Shinryuu hardly bears mentioning because basically cheese. Mini, Genji Shield Reina to stay alive forever, berserked Shinryuu from wonder wand, proceeded to smash his face in and revive Krile who had the dragon lance whenever she got hit. (I also revived Butz so he could contribute the occasional flare, but it really was Krile's show).

Hurrah! Seems you had just enough tools in order to weather the storm for both bonus bosses.

Finally, Neo Ex-Death. Huge pain in the ass...until someone mentioned the Almagest part can be break bladed.

Thems some textbook FF5 shenanigans right there.

Actually, how tough is it surviving without a healer that late into the game? Did it rely exclusively on flame rings and Firaga? Bartz got White Wind about 2/3rds of the way through mine and some of bosses seemed to be real rough without a multitarget heal. With a party like yours, I could see blitzing some of the bosses as a viable strategy, especially with things like Almagest lurking. My damage output was mostly ninja-dependent plus the painfully occasional Sword Dance.

[UncertainJakutten]

I actually basically spend the entire game with Butz as a Discount White Mage. It was really really rare that I'd take a flame ring off, and if I did, I'd replace it with some other fire absorb equip (flame shield mainly). He still got a lot of damage turns just because Firaga heal is that utterly strong. Even Fira heal was really really good.

I don't think I'd have been able to get through the Ex-Death fight without some form of discount healing, at the least, and Omega would have been impossible because my entire strat was "timing Firaga to hit after beam cannon, praying that he didn't double turn into earthquake or maelstrom." Shinryuu didn't actually rely on Firaga healing, I just literally needed a 750 user for wonder wand shenanigans.

Either way, by about the point right before I could go through the tedium of farming flame rings near Crescent, bosses were very clearly beginning to win the damage race and a couple fights I won by the skin of my teeth. I couldn't imagine trying to later game bosses without it, though I'm sure some parties find a way.

[triangles]

Team #FIESTASLACKER here, since half the people who tune into my stream are on the way to a con in Canadaland I'm just going to plow through anyways.

Last people may have followed was after the feature film Willy Ronka and the Sol Cannon Factory where I scored me a chemist.  That means 3 bosses between me and being a cosmonaut.

punch punch punch.  I am totally taking advantage of the fact I'm still doing respectable monk damage.  Titan was blah basically the same thing, note how I still had float on whoops.


Much to my chagrin, Time Mage super-mute doesn't work on these guys.  However, chaining Stop Song and monk punchpunch does.  They didn't even get a chance to act once.  To be fair, this is basically what I did last year but even easier mode.  Bard makes the game really silly!

And then I hop into a glowy warp hole and I get to play as Gramps again

Gravity also makes the game very silly when they don't put heavy tags on things.

And then I went and punched Gilgy in the face again sorry bro and went down the Moogle River and threw a Phoenix Down at a zombie t-rex but I forgot to screencap those and now it's time for ~Moogle Town~

[triangles]

Hello my name is triangles and I am the Queen of Fiesta Slackerdom.
blah blah blah the Pyramid sucks blah blah blah Bard and Chemist are hilarious blah blah 3 boss kill again


It took me longer than it really should have to beat Omega, I was just not getting the Stop Song casting rhythm down but then I did and then he was a scrap heap good riddance Mr. Interdimensional Space Demon Robot.


Also ez modo when you have a berserk stick and actually remember you have a blind potion to throw at him goodbye Mr. Interdimensional Space Dragon Jerkface.


I only wish Neo Exdeath wasn't the first time I went overboard with Chemist mixes they are hilarious.


Can't wait for next year, but I don't know what I'm doing to do if I don't get Bard again I'm so spoiled  :ohdear:  On the other hand, I'd love to have DPS that doesn't require Chemist buffs by the end of World 2 to be useful or isn't a RNG Mage.