Living off of the Land: FFIV No Shopping Run

Hey guys, it's new LP time!

After suffering though the hell that was Zelda Classic's Fourth Quest, I decided I wanted to play something I actually know and enjoy.

Final Fantasy IV was the first RPG that I ever finished, and really is the game that made me love JRPGs. I've played just about every version except the PSP version, many of them multiple times.

I've always wanted to try a "fat of the land" run of an RPG because I thought it would be interesting to see how much the game will give you in chests and events, and also because it sounded like a way to do a "challenge run" that wouldn't be super annoying.

I did do a solo Cecil run for a while one time, but that shit was really boring.

I am/will be recording these episodes on my Twitch channel. I want to try to do one stream a week at least, probably mostly on Sunday afternoons but I don't really have a set schedule, so keep an eye out for stream starts.

OKAY! Let's get started.

PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV

PART I

The game starts off pretty much like it always does since it starts you off with a pair of OP characters and the first town's shop isn't even open. Things start off a little slow until Red and Nari hop into the stream chat in the second video.

Here's the whole stream uncut.

I bet I can guess how that went.

Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Cura. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack.

Pretty much.

Though I did have a little bit of fun with my head cannon about how Cecil went insane and killed all his friends, but then his fevered imagination kept bringing them back to life and he have to keep killing them over and over again, like a homicidal Sisyphus.

That was not amusing enough to get me to grind enough levels to beat the trap doors, though. I have since learned that it's possible to completely skip that dungeon, but then there's some other level-gate after that.

Hmm. I'll have to see how it progresses. I usually play FF4 close to this kind of style anyway. I rarely buy equipment, though I guess I do buy the elemental claws for Yang.

I just realized Cecil is pretty much going to solo all of the upcoming parts with Rydia and Edward, though.

How are you going to ration consumables?

The short answer is "not use them unless absolutely necessary."

I probably will also use Edge's steal command more than usual (so ever at all).

I'm going into this without a plan other than my general knowledge of the game from playing it the normal way. I have no real ideal what enemies drop what or how many consumables I'm likely to find in a normal run. That's part of the fun!

Though to be fair, FFIV isn't exactly the hardest game. I'm usually kind of an item horder to begin with, so it's not like I usually go around using all of my ethers and elixers.

Does this version stuff chests with antarctic winds and junk instead of piles and piles of healing potions? Been forever since I played it.
Huh? There's nothing to buy for either of them, right? Edward's upgrades are all in chests. I guess you don't get a rod for Rydia, but she'll have an Ice Rod by the end of the watery pass anyway.

Yes and no. I think you still get a lot of potions, and I think enemies drop more and steal works better (and can be upgraded maybe?), but yes, there are a LOT more items taking up space in chests. The thing that really takes a hit is getting gold needles and antidotes instead of just piles of HEAL/remedies.

I think the Sneak upgrade just makes it Mug, and doesn't even fix the ridiculously low success rate of stealing items.

Yeah, but as far as I remember, they're so weak early on without any revival/healing items that they won't live to level up much. Though I forgot that you get Tellah before you get Edward, so Rydia might actually level up some.

Hunh. I've played this game a gazillion times, but it never occured to me to do a run like this.

I think your first big hit will be Mysidia/Mt. Ordeals, as not being able to buy a fire rod, cure staff and armor upgrades for the twins will make the ascent more challenging, and then you won't be able to buy Cecil any Paladin armor, which will be a big hit. I don't think you'll be able to get a Thunder claw for Yang before the watery pass, either. Not being able to buy mithril gear shouldn't affect Cave Magnes much, but will hurt you in the Tower of Zot. Then there two rounds of armor upgrades in the underworld that you miss, and I think a few of Edge's sword upgrades.

I don't really use consumables, so not being able to get weapons that can be used as items is much more on my mind when considering something like this.

It also occurred to me that this might make Cid pretty much useless for his time in the party. I think he gets one weapon upgrade in a chest late, and the rest of the time he's going to be running around with his starter hammer that I always have immediately upgraded to silver/Mythril before fighting a single battle with him.

I forget what stuff you can loot in Mithril aside from the dagger, but if nothing else, Cid can also use daggers, and I think bows.

I was thinking of maybe doing this for FF6, just because I haven't played for a while, but I can't really think of much I buy in that one anyway - a couple of relics for the early game and a few of Edgar's Tools are pretty much it.

Also, the twins are much more useful on Mt. Ordeals with white arrows.

Tools, common relics for early on, at least one Esper if you count the auction house as shopping (I would), consumables, and a couple of wedge points where they expect you to buy upgrades, most notably the start of the WoR. I believe some folks can finish the game with the Falchions you pick up in shops in the WoR even. Also throwing weapons for Shadow.

I think I would have to make an exception for running shoes, because screw that regular walking speed, and you have to buy jerky to get Gau to get past that part of the game.

There are up to three Espers you may not get in this type of run (depending on your interpretation of the rule - two in the auction house and one from a guy in Tzen). IIRC every Tool can be found, stolen, or dropped, but it is a bit harder having to wait. I think the worst thing was the occasional armor upgrade. White Dresses, Bard's Hats, and the endgame armors for several characters can only be bought.

The espers and armor don't bother me so much (especially not the espers). And you do start off with the autocrossbow, which is a decent mainstay for Edgar for much of the game. Not getting throwing weapons is, I think, the big stumbling block for me here.

Hey look, a video where something actually happens! Boss battles and Spoony Bards!



Tentatively planning to do a stream/recording Sunday after lunchtime. We'll be picking up at Mysidia, so you'll want to come watch the pain.

That's a terrible lie and you know it. There were no Spoony Bards to be had!

Going to try to stream around 1 p.m. today (Eastern) over on my twitch channel

Thanks to everyone who hopped into the stream chat today! I'm going to shoot for Sunday afternoon for semi-regular streaming.

Oh hey you're playing Final Fantasy!

I've only played the original SNES version that you can nab on the Virtual console and that translation is funny when you aren't expecting it.

I'm skipping most of the dialog, so you don't really get to see that difference in this run, but it does restore all of the old abilities and items that were cut to make the SNES version easier.

I still don't know why I had so much trouble with Mom Bomb.

That last one from the first stream.



The next part is where things get really interesting. Cecil levels up to become a tank with Kain's starting equipment, squishy mages get even squishier, and can you guess where I'll have my first wipe???

PART II

Now things get interesting. Watch me cry over the paladin armor I can't buy.

Full stream Part 1 and Part 2

You missed the Dancing Dagger in Mist. It's very good at that point in the game.